The Avengers from Earthland
by Z.R. Stein
Summary: Fate is a funny thing. Sometimes, it takes you by surprise. Join Gajeel and Erza as they enter a universe even stranger than their own, one that needs as many heroes as it can get to hold back the darkness. There are new pieces on the board now, and the fight for Earth will never be the same. Rated T for mild violence and language. Rating may be subject to change. On hiatus.
1. Chapter 1: They came from Earthland

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Wassup, readers! So, I realized I've kinda been slacking on the whole writing fanfiction thing (a lot), and I have yet to author a real centerpiece story. Thus, inspired by various other authors (The Incredible Muffin and Fergus Flamacron were two of my primary inspirations, you're both amazing), I have undertaken one of my ambitions; a crossover fic in the epic vein, with little bits and bobs thrown in for my own amusement.**

 **Fair warning, this first chapter is loaded with information from the Fairy Tail anime/manga. If you don't know anything about Fairy Tail, just bear with me for now, as it will all be explained in later chapters. For those who do know, this chapter takes place between the Tower of Heaven and Battle of Fairy Tail story arcs. Also, the first chapter will be Gajeel-centric.**

 **I would elaborate more, but no one reads these things anyways, so whatever. On to the story!**

* * *

Gajeel was pissed. Not that that in itself was an unusual occurrence. Lots of things annoyed him. Like painted metal, and designer beer that tasted like chestnuts, and that pink haired, slackjawed, knuckleheaded Salamander. However, today's annoyance was different.

And it was named Erza Scarlet.

Not that he'd ever tell her to her face; Gajeel may have been reckless, but he wasn't suicidal. No, he'd just trudge along behind her, grumbling and frowning, while he cursed the old midget for ever convincing him to join this shithole of a guild.

Which was really why he was here in the first place.

Makarov had decided that his newest member needed to prove himself before he could be fully trusted. Something about sending an observer along with him on his first few jobs. There had been a glint in the old man's eyes that he didn't like, but Gajeel had just grunted in agreement. If he'd been in the old man's position, he would have done the same, even if he'd let himself into the guild. However, Gajeel probably shouldn't have agreed to that, in hindsight.

So now, he was stuck hiking along the coast next to that scary red haired chick. Not that he'd ever admit to being scared of her.

"Oi, oi. What the hell was it we were looking for again?"

Erza sighed, her eyes glued to the cliffs towering over the shoreline.

"We're supposed to be looking for a wild Weretiger that's been terrorizing the local village. According to reports, the beast has been inhabiting a cave on the seaside somewhere around here. We are to contain the beast, by force if necessary. Did you not listen when I explained the mission last time?"

Gajeel rolled his shoulders in a vague shrug and crossed his arms.

"Tch. Whatever."

Erza sighed again. She had volunteered to be Gajeel's observer for his first Fairy Tail mission; whether it was out of caution or simply a need to occupy her mind, she wasn't sure.

The fact that they were mere miles away from where the Tower of Heaven once stood was not doing her any favors.

Gajeel trudged along beside Erza, letting his red eyes roam over the unremarkable cliffs. He had been expecting this when he joined the guild; after all, he was the one responsible for the destruction of their last guild hall during the war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail. He was the one who had beaten those three Fairy Tail mages to a pulp and nailed them to a tree in the park for Makarov to find. Really, he was amazed the old man had given him a chance to join his guild after what he'd done. So, he didn't want to be liked; all he wanted was a job to repay his debt and something tasty to eat every now and then. Or at least that's what he told himself.

. . .

Two hours later, after walking along deserted coastline with less than a dozen words spoken between him and Erza, Gajeel was ready to punch something. There weren't even signs of a Weretiger. Gajeel was beginning to think this mission was a bust. Of course, the universe just loved to prove him wrong.

"Gajeel."

The Iron Dragonslayer looked up in question, frowning. Erza directed his attention towards a cave carved deep into the rock of the cliffs.

Erza requipped a single broadsword, saying "This looks like a likely place."

Gajeel inhaled, letting the salt-ridden air saturate his nose. He grunted.

"Yeah, I can smell em, alright. The tiger must be in there."

Gajeel headed towards the cave, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. It was high time for some action; he could practically taste a good fight waiting to happen. Erza followed behind, her broadsword held in a ready hand.

The scent of rotting flesh assaulted them as soon as the two Fairy Tail mages entered the cave. Bones from fish and other assorted small animals littered the floor, along with a few that looked suspiciously human. Claw marks adorned the walls, gouged deep into the stone. Gajeel's arm flashed before transforming into a serrated iron blade, his keen eyes darting around the rocky walls. He sniffed at the air, trying to pick up the scent of the Weretiger.

"Down here. Somethin' smells off though."

That was all Gajeel had time to say before a blur of motion exploded towards him. He didn't even have time to react as the Weretiger barreled into him, pushing him against the wall of the cave. The whole area shook as Gajeel felt his back hit the wall, the rock pulverized into dust by the hard body of the Dragonslayer. Gajeel bit back a cry of pain as two of his ribs snapped under the blows of the Weretiger.

"Gajeel!"

Erza ran forwards, blade in hand, and made to slice the Weretiger in half. Before she had even made it a meter, the tiger ducked under Erza's guard at impossible speeds and threw her against the other wall.

Her armour absorbed most of the impact, but Erza could feel the metal protesting. She still held her sword, but the beast had her arm pinned to her side. Erza knew that a Weretiger's main advantage lay in its speed, not its strength, and she strained against its grip, confident she could break it.

When she couldn't, Erza knew that something was wrong. Very wrong, when she slowed down enough to look at the beast in front of her.

The Weretiger was small, for a member of its species, with bright orange fur and black stripes running along its body. However, blue veins pulsed all along the body of the tiger, standing out in stark contrast to its fur. The eyes of the beast were more than wild; they were enraged, full of pain and utter madness.

That was all the time she had for observation as the tiger smashed her back against the wall again, her chestplate buckling under the pressure. Erza gritted her teeth and concentrated.

" **Requip! Robe of Yūen!** "

Her entire body glowed with brilliant light before she reappeared wearing a purple, sleeveless kimono. Erza twisted out of the grasp of the Weretiger, the magical properties of the robe letting her slip around it. The tiger stopped for a second, as if miffed that the redhead had escaped its grip.

" **Iron Dragon Lance!** "

A dozen metal spears shot across the room, three of them impaling the Weretiger in various places. Erza rolled out of range as the beast roared, struggling against the spears.

"Holy shit, what is this thing made of?"

Gajeel walked up besides Erza, continuing to shoot metal spears into the tiger's body until it was secured to the wall like a veritable pincushion. The spears trembled under the efforts of the Weretiger as it strained against its bonds.

"Ethernano poisoning."

"Ehhh? I thought ethernano was…y'know, good. It's what gives us magic, right?"

Erza frowned deeply, her eyebrows knit together in worry.

"That is true, Gajeel. Ethernano is the reason that we can use magic. However, concentrated magical essence is dangerous. While it can grant one immense magical power in the short term, it destroys the body. A chunk of solid Ethernano will poison the land around it, killing everything over a period of days, weeks, or months."

Erza requipped a long spear and thrust it through the Weretiger's head. Its struggles ceased, and she turned towards Gajeel.

"We need to find the source. This Weretiger was clearly infected for some time; it was driven rabid by the magical power coursing through its veins. The source must be nearby."

Gajeel frowned deeply, sniffing at the air again.

"Guess that's what I smelled earlier. It's farther down the cave."

Erza nodded and gestured for Gajeel to lead on, spear held tightly against her body.

As the two of them walked further into the dark reaches, Gajeel tried to strike up a conversation with his red haired partner to take his mind off of the pain in his ribs.

"So…y'know a lot about this Ethernano stuff, huh?"

Erza silently glared at the back of Gajeel's head before sighing. Despite her mistrust of the man, he wasn't asking anything unreasonable. And he had just saved her life.

"I…during the mission a few weeks ago at the Tower of Heaven, I got some…hands on experience."

That was understating it. Erza still had nightmares about the flash of light as the Tower transformed after the Etherion blast, Simon's dead body, and the sight of an enraged Natsu covered in flames. Jellal laughing as he proclaimed that he was going to resurrect Zeref. The vision of her death, swirling flames, and the mad eyes of one she once called a friend blended together in her mind until she woke, trembling.

"I don't really want to talk about it. Just be careful, if you destabilize Ethernano it can be…quite destructive. I would advise you to not touch it."

Gajeel grunted and shrugged, not pursuing the topic any further. He could sense that the woman behind him was unsettled and knew it was wise not to push her. Besides, it wasn't as if he actually cared.

A blue glow suffused the walls as they walked further on. It became stronger, flooding the cave with sickly light until the two of them crossed into a large room that was partially submerged in seawater. Limestone columns ran up and down, glittering turquoise under the light emanating from a chunk of Ethernano that was roughly the size of a carriage. The smell of decay was mixed in with ozone, and a low hum filled the air.

Gajeel felt his entire body bristling. This place felt, well, wrong. His draconic instincts were warning him of danger, and he would have obeyed them, if not for the woman who was trailing behind him.

"What do we do now, eh?"

Erza and Gajeel halted two meters away from the chunk of Ethernano, Gajeel frowning as he tried to ignore the oppressive feeling of the room.

"Do we crush it or call someone or…I dunno, this isn't my area. Hey, Scarlet, are you even listening to me?"

"There's someone in there."

Erza darted past Gajeel, coming to the side of the pulsating crystal within seconds. Gajeel remained at a distance, keeping an uneasy eye on the chunk.

"Oi, oi, watch what you're doing, Scarlet! Whaddya mean someone's in there?"

Gajeel heard Erza gasp in shock, saw her fists clench, and felt the quality of the magical power in the air change.

Erza whispered one word: " _Jellal_."

Then she hefted her spear and struck the chunk of Ethernano with as much force as she could muster.

Gajeel's eyes widened in shock. He ran forwards, grabbing Erza to prevent her from striking the crystal again. He backpedalled, moving himself and his struggling partner away from the chunk.

"Are you _insane_ , Scarlet!? You just fucking told me not to touch the stuff!"

Erza yanked the spear out of Gajeel's grip and kicked him away. The glow emanating from the Ethernano turned harsh and a keening sound filled the air as Erza struck it a second time. Cracks spread across the surface and blue energy began to swirl in the air.

Gajeel picked himself up off the floor, his left hand curled around his chest. He didn't know what was going on, didn't know who the hell this Jellal guy was or why Erza had suddenly lost her composure like that; the one thing he did know was that he had a very, very bad feeling about this whole situation. His instincts were telling him to run and hide far, far away from this place. But he'd be damned if he left behind the person who was supposed to be observing him to die.

So Gajeel rushed forwards as fast as his broken ribs allowed, reaching Erza just as she struck the crystal for the third time. A tidal wave of bright blue energy shot out, engulfing the room in a whirling mass of semi-concentrated Ethernano.

Gajeel grabbed onto Erza's arm, trying to pull her towards the exit, away from this place, but Erza resisted, reaching towards the body that was still partially buried within the Ethernano crystal.

"Let me go! I have to get to him, _Let me go_!"

The swirling magical energy rotated faster, dragging along the contours of the room. The crystal holding Jellal vibrated, emitting a dull roar as Gajeel struggled to hold Erza back.

It all happened in the space of a few milliseconds, but to Gajeel, it seemed to last hours. The shattered chunk of Ethernano _thrummed_ , glowing brighter and brighter until it suddenly collapsed in on itself, becoming a sphere as black as the fabric of night. All of the swirling magical energy in the room rushed forwards, sucking Gajeel and Erza along with it, throwing them straight into the strange sphere of Ethernano. Then, with a flash of light and a loud crackle, the sphere vanished, leaving no trace of Ethernano or mages in that cave by the seashore.

. . .

Gajeel tried to hold onto Erza's arm, but lost his grip upon entering the sphere. He glanced wildly around, looking for her, but he could not see Erza. Nor indeed, could he comprehend what he was seeing. The world had vanished, and he seemed to be travelling through a tunnel that warped and bent as he passed through it. Gajeel felt his body squeezed and stretched as he sped along before he lost consciousness completely. The last thing he saw was a bright circle at the end of the tunnel which seemed to float in midair.

. . .

"So, what's this anomaly supposed to look like?"

Doctor Erik Selvig, an aging scientist, poked his head out of the roof of the SUV he was riding in. Beside him, fiddling with a magnometer was his partner, Jane Foster. She fiddled with her equipment as they raced over the hills of the New Mexican desert, the setting sun her only light to see by.

Jane looked up for only a second, saying "It's a little different each time. Once it looked like, I don't know, melted stars, pooling in a corner of the sky. But last week it was a rolling rainbow ribbon—"

Selvig grinned tightly, his hands grasping the roof of the SUV.

"Always said you should have been a poet, Jane."

Jane didn't seem to hear his comment as she frowned at the screen of the magnometer.

"These are strange readings, even next to the anomalies I've seen before. The magnetic fields are fluctuating wildly; I'm picking up some kind of—"

"Holy shit! Do you guys see that?"

Down below, Jane's assistant Darcy Lewis was driving, her head craned to the left. Jane looked up from her magnometer, and Selvig stared, his mouth open.

A mass of swirling blue energy had materialized in the middle of the desert, about a half kilometer west from where the SUV was. Tendrils whipped out, turning in on themselves and reappearing within seconds as a high pitched thrumming filled the air. The mass seemed to be almost spherical in shape, though it flexed and stretched like it was alive. It reached hundreds of feet into the air, writhing higher and higher with each second.

"Darcy, drive us towards it, now!"

Janes voice came down from the roof, sounding as shocked as she felt. Darcy had enough attention left to snort at that, though.

"Yeah, right, good one! Wait…you're not serious, are you?"

"You want those college credits or not?"

Grumbling, Darcy swung the steering wheel around and lined the SUV on a straight path towards the anomaly. However, just as suddenly as it had come, the sphere of strange energy left, vanishing with a flash and a crackle. A few wisps of pale blue energy were all that they could see from this distance.

Jane blinked as the light faded and turned to Selvig.

"I've never seen anything like that before."

. . .

Darcy stopped the SUV a few dozen meters away from where the anomaly had appeared, and Jane and Selvig barreled out of the doors. Jane had her magnometer in her hands, while Selvig struggled under s bag of specialized equipment.

"That was the subtle aurora you've been going on about?" Darcy commented as he hopped out as well. Jane shook her head, only looking up from her instruments just long enough to see where she was going.

"I've never seen anything like that. It was abnormal even by the standards of anomalies. An anomalistic anomaly, I suppose you'd say. God, the magnetic readings are off the charts."

Selvig walked ahead of Jane, squinting to see in the fading light. He made out a shape in what appeared to be the center of the anomaly…a shape that was moving and standing up.

"Jane, there's someone here!"

Jane looked up then, her mouth opening slightly as she saw the figure as well. Erik fumbled through his bag and pulled out a large, yellow flashlight. Turning it on, the three scientists got their first glimpse of this strange man who was, for some reason, in the center of where the sphere had appeared.

He was one of the oddest men any of them had ever seen. Wild, black, spiky hair covered his head and fell down his back in an unruly mane. He had numerous studs covering his body; three in place of each eyebrow, four on his nose, and others trailing up his arms. He was dressed in a long black coat that was singed in several places, fingerless gloves covered in metal studs and plates, and brown pants.

The man squinted at the sudden bright light, his eyes a frightening red.

"Who the fuck are you? What the…what's going on?"

None of the three were able to respond as the man stumbled closer, his hand clasped around his chest. He growled then, a low, rumbling sound. Darcy hurriedly pulled out a handheld taser and pointed it at the man. Upon seeing it, the man giggled, even though it seemed to pain him.

"Gi hi hi, you think that little thing's gonna hurt the mighty Black Steel Gaj-"

Darcy thumbed the trigger and shot the man in the chest with twin taser barbs. He twitched and fell down to the ground, spasming.

Jane and Erik turned towards Darcy, who looked back at them incredulously.

"What? He was freakin' me out!"

Jane just shook her head and rushed to the man's side, Erik not a step behind her. Selvig checked the man's pulse, frowning at the slow beat.

"He's alive, but unconscious. Looks like he's got some broken ribs and mild burns, and his pulse is slow. And of course, the electrocution didn't help him."

From behind them, Darcy chipped in a "Freaking me out!"

Jane opened one of the man's eyelids, doing a double take upon seeing his red irises.

"What is he? He just….appeared out of the inside of that anomaly?"

Erik shook his head, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Whoever he is, he needs to go to the hospital. We can ask him questions after he wakes up."

Darcy scoffed behind them.

"Cuz that went soooo well the first time. Hey, what's this blue stuff?"

The two scientists whirled around, looking at what Darcy was referencing. Their attention having been focused on the man, Jane and Erik had missed the small blue shards that littered the ground, most of them the size of a fingernail or smaller. Jane picked one up, turning it over in her hand.

"It's…warm."

Selvig picked up one as well, turning it over in his hands. It was indeed warm, and seemed to pulse with energy.

"Gather samples of everything you can. We leave in twenty minutes."

Jane made a noise of protest.

"Erik! This was a localized spatial anomaly, we need more time to investigate!"

"I know, but we need to get this man to the hospital. Tasers don't just knock people out, Jane. Not normally, anyways. We'll get what we can and leave. Besides…I doubt this went unnoticed."

Jane opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. She sighed and turned to Darcy.

"Start taking samples. Erik, are you—"

Selvig grunted as he struggled to pick the other man up.

"I'll try to get him to the SUV. Agh, what is he made out of, solid iron?"

* * *

 **Aaaand scene. Wow, that was a rush. If you readers see any spelling mistakes, please tell me in a review or message, I want to make this story as good as possible.**

 **Now I know I might get some hate for this, but trust me, there is a method to my madness. I think that fanfics that blindly follow the canon of one series or another are exceedingly boring. So, Gajeel will be commandeering parts of Thor's story, but don't worry, I'll make it up to Thor. Find out what happened to Erza next chapter!**

 **Please R & R, Z.R. Stein out!**


	2. Chapter 2: New Companions

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Ok, this is going to be a more…substantial chapter. I feel like I rushed through the first chapter a bit, trying to get things established, y'know?**

 **As always, please review or message me if you noticed any mistakes or if you enjoyed it, or even if you wanna shout abuse at me. Though the last option is not preferable.**

 **Oh, and I will explain some things about a certain event in this chapter at the end of the chapter, so hold your obvious objections and read.**

* * *

Thor opened his eyes slowly. He seemed to be alone; the only movement that greeted his sight was a hawk, flying in the far off sky. The blue expanse above him was marred by a few errant clouds, and it seemed to be around midday.

With a groan, Thor struggled to his feet. He was in the center of a clearing, pine trees rising up on all sides. The air was cool, though not anywhere near as cold as the wastes of Jotunheim. Still…it was surprising to Thor that he felt this much of a chill. His Asgardian physiology and armour usually protected him from the elements.

Then he remembered Odin's words, spoken just moments before, yet seeming like a lifetime ago. He remembered how he had been banished here (wherever here was) by the All-Father, Mjolnir taken from him and his power stripped from his very being.

With that memory fresh in his mind, Thor looked up and shouted at the sky "Father! Heimdall! I know you can hear me! Open the bridge!"

After his voice faded, Thor waited for an interminable amount of time. No response came. The sky remained silent, the boom of the Bifrost absent.

Thor looked down and sighed, focusing on his all too weak hands. He was stuck here for the time being, it seemed.

Shaking his head, Thor began walking. He had no idea where he was, but he was determined to find out. The best way to do that, the Asgardian thought, would be to find a local.

As he walked out of the clearing and into the forest, the God of Thunder tested out his new body. While he lacked his normal Asgardian strength, speed, and durability, Thor was pleased to note that he still looked the same. It wouldn't do for Thor Odinson to lose his godly good looks.

Thor supposed it could have turned out worse. He could have been banished to one of the harsher realms, like Muspelheim or Nilfheim; while this one was cold, it was livable. The pines were tall and noble in their own way, and the banished Asgardian found himself reminded of Midgard.

Attempting to fill the silence of the woods around him, Thor smiled and boomed out "Ah, to have the Warriors Three or the Lady Sif here with me! Even Loki…hmph. Yes…a companion would be a great balm in this unusual time."

As the words left his mouth, Thor heard a low hum echo through the forest. Thor frowned, looking around for the source of the noise, yet finding nothing in sight. Finally glancing up through the needles of the pines, Thor beheld a pillar of writhing blue light, dancing to the north. The humming grew louder and louder until it suddenly stopped, the blue light receding in an instant. Then, with a considerably quick stride, the God of Thunder headed in the direction of the disturbance.

. . .

"Jellal!"

Erza sat up with a start, her eyes darting around wildly as the name of her old friend and enemy left her lips. However, there was no cave, no chunk of Ethernano, no Gajeel, and no Jellal. Instead, all that the Requip mage saw was a ring of charred trees and a few wisps of steam rising off of the ground. The air had a distinct chill to it that had not been present in the cave.

Erza gathered her wits as best she could and stood up, attempted to get her bearings. This place was unremarkable, a forest that could have existed anywhere in Fiore. Yet, Erza knew at once that something was off.

She couldn't feel her magic.

It wasn't that she was drained; Erza knew that feeling well enough. No, it was almost as if the magical particles that were always present in the air were being dampened by something else. When she tried to summon one of her favourite blades, there was no reaction, her gestures conjuring nothing. It was decidedly disturbing.

Frowning, Erza looked around the area she was in more carefully. Littering the ground were small blue shards, some buried so deep in the pine needles they barely glimmered at all. Slivers of blue peeked out of the blackened bark of the trees as well, buried deep inside as if propelled by a blast.

"Ethernano shards." Erza breathed out. She knelt down and picked one up. As soon as the glowing crystal touched her hand, Erza felt a miniscule stream of magic well up in her body; not nearly enough to Requip, but it was still reassuring nonetheless. Still, it was confusing; if her magic was being dampened by another mage, why would they let her draw power from Ethernano shards?

"You there! Woman!"

Erza's head jerked up. Caught in her reverie, she had not noticed this newcomer's approach.

He had the appearance of a young man with shoulder length blond hair and a short beard. His slate blue eyes were piercing and beautiful, somehow older than the rest of his body suggested. The stranger was dressed in a simple leather jerkin over a loose grey shirt, trousers, and boots.

Erza narrowed her eyes and backed away slightly, settling into a crouch. She did not know who this man was, or if he was a mage or not. She did not know if he was the one who was suppressing her magic or even if he was a threat at all, but Erza knew she would not go down without a damn good fight if he proved hostile.

"What do you want?"

The stranger noted her stance, and frowned, his brows drawing together.

"Have care how you act around the son of Odin, mortal. I have questions that need be answered about this realm and little time to waste. Stand down; you cannot best one such as I."

Erza glowered at the self professed 'son of Odin', his arrogant manner reminding her, uncomfortably, of a certain blue haired man. She drew herself up and raised her armored fists, brown eyes narrowed and full of defiance.

"You think yourself above me, son of Odin? I am the Titania; I would have you out cold before your braggart mouth could spew another word."

Upon hearing the challenge, Thor's eyes widened, incensed by the audacity of this red headed woman. Humiliating enough to have his godhood revoked, now this _girl_ thought she could challenge him?

With a wordless bellow, the God of Thunder rushed forwards, and the clash commenced.

Erza ducked under the first punch, the man's fist flying past her head. She thrust with her elbow, catching him in the back and throwing him of balance for a moment. The redheaded mage spun, looking for an opening to end the fight swiftly, only to get her legs swept out from under her. The man had recovered much faster than she had expected, his teeth bared with battle lust.

As the man bore down on her, Erza lashed out with her leg, catching him in knee. He howled and faltered, and she rolled away, barely missing a fist that smacked the earth where her head had been just moments before.

Thor growled low, his heart pumping fervently in his chest as he shoved the pain aside and strode after the woman. She crouched and leapt into the air, aiming a kick at his chest, but millennia of Asgardian training enabled him to twist out of the way and grasp her foot firmly. Instead of stopping her or throwing her to the ground, Thor added to her momentum, flinging her at a charred fir with all his strength.

Erza bit back a cry as she hit the trunk of the tree with considerable force, her body protesting at the punishment. Her ribs were saved from being broken by her breastplate (again), though she thought she could feel a minor fracture. Erza gasped in a quick breath, hearing her opponent approaching. Grabbing a nearby branch, Erza whipped it around, intending to strike him in the side.

Thor barely managed to block the swinging branch, the half rotten wood breaking apart as it hit his crossed arms. His arms were speckled with cuts and would doubtlessly bruise a nasty shade later on, but he was unconcerned about that now. Thor batted the woman's makeshift weapon out of her hands and stepped over her, trying to wrestle her to a standstill.

"Yield!" Thor managed to grind out as he grappled with the surprisingly strong redhead. Instead of responding, she grunted, snaking her leg around his chest and pushing, reversing their positions.

Finally on top, Erza glared down at the struggling man below her, his movements halting as he noticed the furiously burning anger in her eyes.

" _Yield?_ I would sooner die than _yield_ to someone who parades around like a pompous braggart! Is your pride so great that you feel the need to hold yourself above everyone?"

Thor scowled, adamant not to bend under this woman's frankly intimidating aura.

"You are no better, _Titania_! Who was it that issued a challenge to a man she had just met?! Your words carried the weight of intended combat, did they not?"

Erza frowned, thinking back. He had a point.

"Perhaps. However, I despise being looked down upon by one I have yet to prove myself to. You claimed I could not best you; so why is it that I have _you_ at my mercy?!"

Thor grunted as the adrenaline receded from his system, realizing that he, too, was at fault here. That, and he could acknowledge (grudgingly) that this Titania was a worthy enough opponent to match this mortal form.

Thor took a moment to breathe, letting the final trace of battle lust go before he spoke again, saying in a low voice "Yes, that is…a point. Hmph. For looking down upon a warrior as…capable as yourself, I am…..sorry. Would you unhand me now?"

Erza dismounted the beaten God of Thunder, letting out a small groan as the movement disturbed the fracture in her ribs. Both warriors stumbled away from each other, regarding the opposite for several seconds before Thor made an attempt at speaking.

"If you would…good lady…I have questions about this realm that I would…appreciate…answered."

Erza's lips lifted into a small smile at the awkward apology and stilted question. Perhaps he was not such a bad man after all, if he learned to control that prideful temper of his.

"Better. Though I do not understand what these realms are you speak of, son of Odin. Do you mean country?"

"Ah…no, it is rather more complicated that….have you ever heard of the Nine realms, the domain of the gods, Asgard, Nilfheim, Midgard, any of that? Surely you have heard tales of the God of Thunder, Thor Odinson?"

Erza snorted. Sure, she had heard tales of self professed 'god-slayers', but was this man actually insinuating that he was a god, when he was beaten by her when she was bereft of magic? How prideful could a man get?

"I have heard none of those names. Am I correct in assuming that you are Thor Odinson?"

Thor nodded, thinking.

"That I am. And yourself, you would be Titania?"

"No. Titania is a title, my name is Erza. Erza Scarlet."

Thor's eyes flicked to her fiery red hair, deciding that it was an apt name. After a moment of consideration, he continued.

"Hmph. Perhaps you know them by their local names. I know that Midgardians refer to their realm as Earth, and—"

"Earth? Do you not mean Earthland, Thor?"

Thor frowned deeply and responded "I…have never heard of Midgard being called Earthland. Perhaps…what country of Earth do you hail from?"

Erza frowned as well, her brown eyes thoughtful. She got the feeling that the two of them were talking about completely different things.

"The Kingdom of Fiore. I live in the town of Magnolia as part of the mage guild Fairy Tail. This is our guild mark."

Erza twisted her arm to show the marking to her companion, who looked more and more confused.

"I have never heard of this…Fiore. Of what do you speak when you say you are part of a mage guild, Lady Erza."

Now Erza was completely lost. Who didn't know about mage guilds? The thought crossed her mind that this 'Thor, God of Thunder' could be an utter madman.

"Mage guilds are…it's a bit difficult to explain in short."

Thor and Erza stared at each other, their answers to each other's questions only generating more. It was going to be a long few hours.

. . .

Bright light. That was the first thing Gajeel noticed as he muddled his way out into consciousness. He sniffed. The smell of bleach and lemons flooded his nose, along with a faint, yet noticeable undertone of sickness and decay.

He was in a hospital then. Gajeel would have sworn if his mouth wasn't so dry. He hated hospitals.

His eyes still closed, Gajeel tried to gather his thoughts. There had been the cave, the chunk of Ethernano, Erza, and then he was flying through that tunnel, whatever the fuck that was. Then…there had been that man shining a light in his face, those two women behind him. That one had shot him with something that hurt like hell. And to top it all off, he couldn't feel even a hint of magic in his system, which was decidedly weird. Gajeel knew that even given all the shit he'd been through, he should have had at least a little magical power left in him. The fact that he didn't could only mean two things: either there was no magical power here in the first place, or someone was intentionally blocking it.

"He hasn't woken up yet, but you can go in."

Gajeel's sensitive ears flicked at the sound, hearing the low voice through the door. There were three people outside, one of whom had just spoken; he could hear their heartbeats. Two of them were older, and one was quite young, her healthy heart beating briskly.

One of the older people and the young one entered the room and sat down across from him. Gajeel sniffed again. The older was a male, smelled a bit like grass and dust. The younger was a female, and smelled rather strongly of strawberries.

At that precise moment, his stomach rebelled, reacting to the scent of strawberries (not that he liked strawberries or anything—he was the Iron Dragonslayer after all), emitting a loud growl.

"Are you awake then?"

Gajeel decided to end the suspense and opened his eyes. He sucked in a surprised breath upon seeing the two; they were the ones from before!

"What the fuck do you two want?" Gajeel managed to rasp out. The woman was taken aback by his manner, while the man just grunted, getting up and handing him a small paper cup of water.

"Here, drink. You've been out for almost twenty hours."

Gajeel considered knocking the cup away, but he was thirsty. As he drank, he watched the two of them, trying to get a read on them. Neither of them seemed like the fighting type in the slightest. The older man had a quiet, fatherly air about him, and he had an accent that Gajeel couldn't remember hearing anywhere else. The girl was, he admitted to himself, quite pretty, and he could smell both fear and anticipation coming off of her.

It was an odd combination, Gajeel thought to himself as he emptied the cup. The fear he was used to, and he kinda liked it. The anticipation…well, that was a new one. She looked like she had a lot of questions.

The man cleared his throat and spoke, saying "I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Doctor Erik Selvig. This is my partner, Doctor Jane Foster."

"Where's the other one?"

Selvig frowned, glancing at Jane.

"Excuse me?"

"The other one. The one that shot me."

Recognition dawned on their faces and Jane leaned forwards, embarrassed.

"Ah…that would be Darcy. She…she stayed back at the lab. I kinda ordered her to stay there, considering…"

Gajeel snorted, agreeing with this 'Jane Foster', if only because he would have slaughtered the taser-happy intern if she'd been present.

"And you are?"

Gajeel turned his crimson eyes on the two of them.

"Gajeel Redfox. Of Pha…airy Tail. Now it's my turn for questions."

The two of them seemed thrown for a loop by the name Fairy Tail (why, Gajeel didn't know), so he launched straight into his questions.

"Where I am and where is Erza?"

Erik snapped out of his reverie, still confused but intent on answering the questions of the strange man they had found in the middle of the anomaly.

"You're in Puente Antiguo, in New Mexico. I do not know of anyone named Erza. Is she a friend of yours?"

Gajeel snorted again, giving his impression of _that_ idea. He barely knew the sword wielding chick, and besides, he didn't have 'friends'. Also, where the hell was New Mexico?

Suddenly, Jane interjected herself into the conversation, maintaining a fast paced babble.

"So why were you in the middle of that spatial anomaly? Were you there when it happened? Did you actually come through it, and if you did, what was it like?"

Gajeel blinked, then said "It was…weird."

"Describe weird? Did you notice any temperature spikes or magnetic fluctuations? Given the high amount of ferromagnetic metals on your outfit, I can only assume that there would have been some reaction."

Gajeel blinked again, mouth hanging open a bit, before he responded "I have no idea what you're talkin' about, lady."

Jane sighed at that, while Selvig leaned forwards again.

"So you did come through the anomaly then, correct?"

"If that's what that weird Ethernano stuff was, then yeah."

Selvig raised an eyebrow.

"Ethernano?"

"Yeah…magical energy. There was a big solid chunk of it back in the cave. Y'know…blue, glowy, kinda smells like lightning. Fuckin' stuff is crazy."

Both Jane and Erik looked dubious at the mention of magic, but Gajeel's description of the Ethernano put a thoughtful expression on Erik's face.

"Hmph. Alright then. Can you tell me what you were doing in this cave?"

If Erik had known the can of worms that he was opening with that question, he might have stayed silent.

. . .

Thor strode beside his new companion, organizing his thoughts.

"So, you were on a mission for this mages guild, Fairy Tail, of which you are an elite member, correct?"

Erza nodded, affirming the question as correct. The two of them had been walking through the forest since their fight, sticking to one direction as neither of them knew where they were going.

"And your duty was to ascertain the trustworthiness of a new member, this Gajeel, whom you called an Iron Dragonslayer…yet he has slain no dragons."

Erza hummed in agreement.

"I didn't understand it at first either, but the magic is taught by dragons, and is the only known magic able to kill dragons…hence the name."

"I suppose that makes sense. And you tracked down this beast called weretiger, that was infected by the magical scourge you called Ethernano. You then found the source of the infection, it reacted to your presence, and now you are here?"

Erza's eyes grew distant and hard as she thought of the details she had left out.

"Yes."

Thor noticed her mood and decided not to press. He had a healthy respect for the woman, even after only knowing her for a few hours. She was bold, courageous, beautiful, and one of the finest mortal warriors he had ever met. And if it was to be believed, she was at a fraction of her normal power, much like he was. That she had held her own against one who was thousands of years older than her only enhanced his new-found, slightly grudging respect.

Her tales of her homeland were also fascinating. Thor could not quite believe them, strange as they were. A world of great and powerful magic, she said, with many mages being nearly as powerful or equally as powerful as Asgardians, and this world had somehow escaped the notice of the all seeing Heimdall? It could not be possible.

"What about you? Tell me more about this Asgard."

Thor smiled wistfully at her question.

"Ah, Asgard. A world of beauty and strength. I told you we wield magic there as well, though it is seemingly different from your own."

"Aye. And you are the crown prince, are you not?"

Thor's face soured, his previously good mood gone in an instant.

"My father is indeed Odin, King of Asgard. Whether or not I am crown prince at this moment…well, I suppose that is up for debate."

"Why is that?"

Thor crossed his arms, trying to rub them back to life. The sun was close to setting, and it had grown steadily colder. Both he and Erza needed to find a place of shelter, or he feared what would happen to them. Still, he supposed it would always be better than Jotunheim.

"I…you have noted that I am prideful. While I have many reasons to be so, it has brought me trouble on this day. There was an attack on Asgard…well, more of an attempted theft. A group of Jotuns, Frost Giants, stole into Asgard and tried to take the Cask of Ancient Winters. They were stopped but…I believed at the time that they deserved to be taught a lesson for their treachery."

Erza frowned, soft brown eyes on her companion.

"My father disagreed, and I went against him. I took the Bifrost to Jotunheim and…let us say that one thing led to another and I fought with the Jotuns. Me, my brother and my companions were vastly outnumbered, but we held our own in glorious battle. You should have seen as I fought against…"

Thor's jovial description of the battle turned somber and he stopped talking. Shaking his head, he started up again.

"We were ultimately outnumbered though, and would have died if not for my father. He rode through the Bifrost and confronted Laufey. I still wanted to fight…I did not see at the time that my actions could have consequences as great as war, but that is what Laufey threatened. Before the Jotuns could attack, we left through the Bifrost, back home to Asgard. Once there…Father and I had words. The All-Father decided to strip me of my powers and banish me, as punishment for my actions on Jotunheim. And so, I am here. Wherever here is."

Erza remained silent after Thor's story. While she agreed that something needed to curb his pride, she could not approve of this All-Father's methods. She could not imagine Master Makarov banishing Laxus from the guild and stripping him of his powers. Perhaps if he attacked other members…but that was not important. What was important here and now was locating a place for the two of them to stay before they froze to death in this forest. And Erza thought she saw a solution to that problem.

"Look, lights up ahead. Perhaps they will not mind hosting the God of Thunder."

Thor chuckled, his arms still wound around his body.

"Only if they allow the Queen of Fairies to stay as well."

* * *

 **Awww, isn't that cute, they're all friendly and shit now!**

 **Ahem. Well, this was more of an interim chapter as it is. A bit longer than the last one, I really need to try to work on my length; I wanna reach 7-10 thousand words per chapter but it's just so freaking LONG.**

 **A note on the fight; alright, so the question is, would a depowered Erza win a fight against a depowered Thor? I believe she would. You see, while Thor has an edge in raw strength, experience, and years of training, Erza is not only faster and more agile, but she is also far more used to being weak and human. Thor is not, and the unfamiliarity of being a lowly human would doubtlessly affect his fighting skill. Thor is also very used to using Mjolnir, while Erza uses a wide variety of weapons on a daily basis. Now, you can disagree with me if you like, but hey, I'm the author.**

 **I'm gonna try to update on a weekly or at least biweekly schedule, but don't quote me on that. Life gets busy and I'm in university.**

 **Next chapter: Thor learns another lesson in humility, Gajeel scares the crap out of Darcy, and SHIELD makes an appearance.**


	3. Chapter 3: Meetings in the Dark

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Welcome back! I have a tremendous workload for classes this weekend and it's my birthday as well, so obviously I decided to not do homework and instead, waste time entertaining strangers on the internet. Hooray.**

 **But that's all besides the point. Here's this weeks chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review and tell me how I did.**

* * *

"I'm busy. What do you want?"

Tony Stark looked at the agent out of the corner of his eye, half watching Coulson as he finished leveling the miniature particle accelerator he was building in his house.

"Nothing. Goodbye. I've been reassigned. Director Fury wants me in New Mexico. There was an incident."

Stark smirked. While he enjoyed teasing the agent to no end, it would be nice to not be under crazy super spy house arrest. Crazy super spy house arrest was bad for impulsive geniuses.

"Fantastic. Land of Enchantment."

"So I'm told."

"Secret stuff?"

"Something like that."

Stark nodded, mock bowing to Coulson as the man left out of the pulverized doorway.

. . .

"He's insane."

"Possibly. Then again, there's a good chance he's telling the truth."

Jane Foster pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache forming. She'd have to get Darcy to run to the pharmacy when they arrived back on the lab; they were out of Advil, and she thought she'd need half a bottle to work through this mess.

"Magic, Erik."

"I know, I was there."

"Magic. Like, with wands and spells and chanting. Maybe the occasional human sacrifice."

Erik sighed, gripping the steering wheel of the SUV tighter as he turned onto the street where their research lab was. The two of them had left the lone hospital of Puente Antiguo not more than ten minutes ago. Since that time, the sole topic of conversation had been their interview with this 'Gajeel'; the half hour session the duo had had with the black haired man raised far more questions than it answered. Selvig couldn't in good conscience believe most of it. He was a scientist after all; 'magic' was simply a name for unexplained phenomena. Yet, Selvig could not for the life of him think of a simple explanation for what he had heard. Much of Gajeel's story bordered on the ludicrous, the impossible, or the insane.

Jane groaned out the word " _Magic._ " under her breath, as if she wanted to pound the word itself into dust.

"He may believe that it's magic, Jane, but that does not necessarily mean that it is…"

"He said he was raised by a _dragon_ , Erik! _**A dragon**_! A living, breathing—fire breathing, even—dragon!"

"Iron dragon, not fire dragon."

Jane threw her hands up into the air and exclaimed "Exactly! He's insane!"

Erik pulled up to the lab and shut off the SUV before turning to face Jane, frowning.

"For the moment, let us put aside the fact that his story is impossible and concentrate on what he told us."

Jane nodded hesitantly, her hands pulling through her hair as she tried to organize her thoughts, saying "Alright. Alright alright alright alright. Think. So he definitely came through the anomaly, or else he's a total amnesiac or a pathological liar. Or insane."

"Jane…"

"Yes, I know. He came through the anomaly because his partner, Erza, struck a chunk of Ethernano, which he described as magical particles," Jane snorted, "which then had some sort of reaction that created a, well, what I would describe as a semi stable wormhole or a partial Einstein-Rosen bridge."

Erik stroked his chin and said "Magic particles…I find it interesting that he said particles. Do you think perhaps he could mean some kind of—"

"Subatomic particle?"

"The thought crossed my mind."

Jane pursed her lips, thinking.

"Theoretically, the only particle that would be able to maintain an Einstein-Rosen bridge for more than a few nanoseconds would be a negative electron, but negative electrons don't exist in this universe. Or at least, we haven't found any yet."

"What if he's not from this universe?"

Jane looked at Erik with an incredulous gaze.

"You've got to be joking. Even if he came through the anomaly, what evidence is there for him being from another universe."

"I'm just saying it's a possibility. If we take his story at face value, he is from a place we have never heard of, filled with creatures we can't even imagine and a mysterious energy source that they have identified as 'magic' that we may not be able to understand. He resembles a human, but he has several rather obvious physiological differences, and he quite literally has no idea where he is. It is a long shot though, I will admit. I would wager more on the possibility of him being from another planet."

Jane groaned again and muttered "I can't believe I'm having this conversation."

Selvig opened his mouth to say more, but a knock on the door of the SUV interrupted him. He looked outside to see Darcy standing by his window with two cups of coffee in her hands.

Erik rolled down his window and Darcy handed the cups to him.

"Thanks."

"No probs. Sooooo…how did the meeting go with Ozzy Osbourne's scary cousin?"

Jane rolled her eyes and commented "Erik thinks he might be from another universe."

Erik sighed and shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I only said it was a possibility to consider. How were things around here? Any luck with the Ethernano shards?"

Darcy blinked owlishly.

"The whosis whatsits?"

Selvig coughed and said "That's what they're called, according to Gajeel."

Darcy pulled a face.

"Huh. His name is Gajeel? Sounds kinda Eastern European."

"I don't know about that. But his name isn't really important right now. The shards."

Darcy nodded, motioning with her head towards the lab building.

"Being a lowly intern and all, I didn't really touch them. They're still sitting there, being all blue and stuff. Oh yeah, and I finally finished sifting though the spectrometer readings that we did last night."

"Anything interesting?"

"Define interesting? Is it close to weird?"

Erik kneaded his forehead and said "I'll look at them later. I have a few friends who do research in high end radiation at LIGO, maybe I could send the data to them. What about the soil samples?"

"Haven't gotten to them yet, dude."

Jane hummed and leaned forwards.

"Actually, I have a friend in the geology department that might be able to help us with those. I can send them to her, see if there is any chemical difference."

Darcy yawned and waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the lab door.

"Come on, we can finish sciencey discussions inside. I mean, I'm a poli sci major but whatever."

Erik and Jane exited the SUV, Selvig leaning over to ask Jane "She's a political science major?"

"Yeah…she was the only applicant to be our intern."

Erik humphed and entered the lab, Jane only a few steps behind.

. . .

Bruce Banner liked living in Canada. Sure, the weather could be brutal in the winter, but the solitude more than made up for it; his nearest neighbor was thirty miles away. Plenty of space just in case of an incident, not that he planned on there being one anytime soon. He bought groceries every other week from town and drove them back to his cabin in an ancient Chevy he'd bought with the last of his American dollars. In essence, Doctor Bruce Banner, alter ego of the creature known as the Hulk, was content. At least, he was as content as he could be given his unique set of circumstances.

Therefore, when he was startled out of his evening meditation by a loud, incessant knocking on the door, Bruce knew it could be nothing good. After all, visitors meant change, and change meant possible danger, and danger was extremely undesirable for a man who could turn into the avatar of rage itself.

Standing up with a suppressed groan as he felt his shins crackle, Banner walked to the front door and peered out of the peephole. Loitering on his front porch were two rather strange people. One of them was a man, tall and blonde, while the other was a woman with vividly crimson hair. Oddly enough, the woman was dressed in a dented metal breastplate and a blue skirt, which was hardly appropriate wear for the Canadian wilderness in late autumn. The man was not much better off, being dressed in a lightweight shirt and pants.

Bruce frowned. The visitors could be some kind of agents, whether of the Army or another military organization—he didn't really care either way, Bruce preferred not to fraternize with agents of any kind. However, it seemed unlikely that they were. What kind of secret agent would wear a breastplate? It was almost as ridiculous as a spy using a bow and arrows in this day and age; in a word, nonsense.

Still, Bruce Banner was a cautious man at the best of times. He barely cracked the door open, staring balefully out with a single eye.

"Can I help you?"

The blonde man smiled widely, gesturing towards the armor clad woman.

"Ah, yes. My companion and I seek shelter against this bitter cold. Would you be so gracious as to allow us to lodge with you for tonight?"

"We would be glad to compensate you for your trouble, sir. I would not have us be a burden on you." The redhead added on, tilting her head forwards in a gesture of respect.

Bruce blinked twice, the weird rating of these people shooting up. Both of them spoke in an overly formal way, like in a Shakespeare play, though the man did so more noticeably. Moreover, they both had foreign accents; the blond had a Nordic edge to his words, while the redhead sounded vaguely Eurasian.

Bruce mulled it over in his mind. While they seemed honest enough, he didn't, as a rule, like people staying with him. Still, it'd be inhumane to leave them out in the cold night.

Bruce sighed quietly, his mind made up.

"Compensation won't be necessary. It wouldn't be right to leave you two out there to spend the night. Come in."

The blond man grinned even wider as he stepped through the door, the redhead following behind him.

Erza looked around the small cabin, eyes flickering over the sparse furniture. She stood to the side of the room, feeling a twinge of guilt upon having intruded in this gentleman's home, even though it had been necessary. The kind man who had let them in leaned against the back of his only couch, glancing between his visitors as if not sure what to make of them. He fiddled with the edge of his oversized grey sweater, wireframe glasses perched on the edge of his nose.

Thor, on the other hand, plopped straight down into a wooden chair across from the active fireplace. He rubbed his hands together, warming himself up. He was still not used to this mortal body, and the cold had been getting to him more than he liked to admit.

Erza cleared her throat, trying to signal her companion (who apparently didn't hear her), before turning to face their host fully.

"My thanks for allowing us to stay here. What is your name, sir?"

"Ehm…Bruce. Banner. Eh…Bruce Banner. And, you?"

Erza inclined her head again and said "Erza Scarlet. My companion would be Thor Odinson."

Bruce tacked on some more points to the weird rating. The woman had a last name that described her hair colour, while the man had the name of a Norse pagan god. Stranger and stranger.

Thor finished rubbing his hands and said "Honorable Bruce, I have questions that need be answered. That both of us need answered. Tell me, do you know which realm this is?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows, confused.

"Realm?"

"Aye", interjected Erza, "he wants to know where we are. Both of us are lost. Can you tell us where we are, Mr. Banner?"

Bruce blinked again. Well, this was different.

"You're about a mile away from Comox lake. Near Courtenay?"

Two blank faces stared back at Bruce.

"Uh…Vancouver Island…which is in British Columbia. In….ehm…Canada."

Thor's face suddenly cleared and he exulted "Ah, Canada. I heard Heimdall mention it once. We are indeed in Midgard then, Lady Erza!"

Erza nodded, relieved that she at least had some idea where she was now. Thor had described Midgard some as they had walked, and it sounded very similar to Earthland, though the world was lacking in magic. Perhaps that was why she could not feel any magic power then. Maybe there was no magic power to be had on this world.

Bruce, on the other hand, was gazing with glazed eyes at his visitors, his weird meter overloading and his mind going into overdrive.

"Ok…just…wait a minute."

Thor and Erza turned to the man who was in a state of perfect confusion.

"How do neither of you have any idea where you are? Who is Heimdall? Why are you wearing armor when it's freezing outside? And most importantly, who the hell are you two?"

Erza looked at Thor, who nodded back to her. Moving over to the couch, Erza sat down and motioned next to her.

"Sit down, Mr. Banner. I think that we have much to talk about."

. . .

Gajeel grunted low as his feet touched down on the pavement. He had waited until the nurse had gone back to her station for a few minutes, timing his escape perfectly. Now, he set off, sniffing at the air as he went. Everything smelled different here, more industrial than anything else he'd ever smelled in Fiore. He loved it. Nature could suck his Dragonslayer ass; Gajeel loved the feel of civilization.

Inhaling deeply, Gajeel picked up hints of strawberry. He grinned. The Iron Dragonslayer took off into the night as the hospital staff discovered his absence, his nose in the air as he tracked the person whom he promptly nicknamed Strawberry Girl. Might as well find the only people he knew in this goddamn place, and besides, he had an intern to pummel.

. . .

Darcy sat outside the lab, dangling her legs off of the banister she was on. Erik and Jane had gone into full on sciency mode, blabbering back and forth about radiation readings and magnetic fluctuations and the acidity of quartz crystal formations, and it was getting to be too much for her. They probably wouldn't even notice her absence until they needed something, and she would still be able to hear them yelling from outside.

Darcy's thoughts turned to the events of the past two days. Her almost painfully boring internship with these two nerds had turned exciting in a heartbeat. Like, scary exciting. Weird blue anomalies, guys with metal piercings and red eyes appearing out of wormholes, interuniversal travel; it was too much to take in at once.

Her thoughts thus occupied, Darcy failed to notice a man with red eyes and a wild mane of black hair creeping up on her before he was only a few feet away from her.

"Gihihi, hello there little-"

Darcy screamed and kicked him as hard as she could, catching him right between the legs. Erik and Jane barreled out of the doors of the lab, eyes darting around before finally settling on the man who was rolling around on the ground, groaning.

Selvig blinked owlishly.

"Gajeel? What are you doing here?"

The man in question didn't favor him with a response, instead wheezing out the words 'kill' and 'fuck' under his breath as he struggled to make a coherent sentence. Jane glared pointedly at Darcy, who threw her hands in the air.

"He snuck up on me! What the hell was I supposed to do?"

Selvig stood over Gajeel, patting him on the back.

"Come on then, walk it off. I'm sorry about Darcy, she's…Darcy. I didn't expect you to get out of the hospital so soon. I assume they didn't let you out."

Gajeel struggled to his feet, eyes livid.

"I don't have time for your fucking questions, Gramps. Now outta my way, I'm gonna murder her."

Selvig started to protest and moved to block him, but Gajeel just pushed him out of the way. He hobbled towards Darcy and Jane, fist raised to strike the young woman.

Darcy cringed while Jane shielded her, intent on stopping the man before he could murder her intern. Her adrenaline pumped, and suddenly, time slowed down. She could see the studded arm descending, fingers curled into a fist. Jane reached up, almost casually, and caught the fist with one hand, stopping it dead.

The four of them stood like that for at least ten seconds, frozen in shock. Darcy was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Dude, you never told me you had super strength."

Jane shook her head, babbling out "I don't…I'm not…what?"

Gajeel's jaw snapped shut as the gears in his head turned.

"You…have you mean touching the Ethernano?"

"Me? Well…yeah. I have more experience with Erik in geology and crystallography, he let me handle the close-up work on the shards. …why?"

Gajeel's eyes narrowed, and he turned Jane's arm over. Barely visible, Jane's wrist veins glowed a faint blue. He sucked in a breath and growled.

"Geh. Ethernano poisoning. Fucking damn it, that's the whole reason I'm in this mess to begin with."

Selvig approached, looking concerned.

"Ethernano poisoning? What is that? Why didn't you mention it before?"

Gajeel glared at the older man, lips drawn back in a grimace.

"I forgot, ok? I had other things on my mind, old man. And it's…well, I don't really know. Erza knows more about it than me…but…near as I can tell, concentrated Ethernano is bad. Like, really bad. That thing we were hunting, the weretiger, it was all hopped up on it. Being near it made it stronger, faster. And it packed a damn good punch, I can tell you. Broke my ribs. Anyways…Erza said that even though Ethernano enhances strength, it'll eventually kill anything that's around it for too long."

Selvig looked horrified at the information.

"Jane's dying?"

Gajeel shifted around, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Hell if I know. Maybe. Why don't ya just not touch the stuff?"

Darcy nodded in agreement and said "Smart move, dude."

Gajeel scowled at the intern, contemplating on murdering her. However, the moment was gone; now that he'd recovered, he could admit to himself that he'd deserved that one. Sort of. There was an innocent woman who was possibly dying at the current moment, and she needed whatever help he could give her; he'd contemplate murder after he finished helping.

"Getting away from it should help. I think. I'm no expert, but Erza said it had to be continuous contact."

Jane's face became slightly less terrified and she nodded.

"Yeah…yeah, that sounds good. It's really equally my fault. I should have treated the shards with more caution. I thought lead attenuated gloves would be enough."

"We can worry about lab safety semantics later. For now, everyone inside. Yes, you too Gajeel."

Selvig shepherded all of them inside, caught up in fatherly mode. Darcy offered Gajeel coffee after only slight hesitation. The Iron Dragonslayer grudgingly accepted, eyeing her like he would a particularly dangerous predator.

After Selvig had sealed off the Ethernano inside a lead lined safe, his face grim, the four of them gathered back at the living room of the lab building. Gajeel stirred his coffee, trying to burn a hole into the back of Darcy's head as he did so. Erik shook his head ruefully at the scene. Why did he always have to be the mature one?

"We'll take you to the hospital in the morning, Jane. They can have you checked…Jane, what are you doing?"

Jane paused, the spectrometer on her arm stopping its journey.

"Taking readings. I was wondering whether the radiation changed wavelength when it entered my body."

Selvig rubbed his face with his hands and muttered "Always a scientist, aye?"

Darcy snorted in conjunction with Gajeel. Erik ignored the sound and turned to Gajeel.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about Ethernano? Its mechanics, its functions, general rules of what it is and what it does…anything."

Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"Do I look like some kinda egghead to you, old man? I never studied much on it. The one who you wanna talk to is Erza. Wherever the hell she is."

Selvig nodded slowly.

"I'll help you with that. Starting tomorrow, we're going to try to find your friend."

"She ain't my friend."

"Fine. Whatever you say. I'll show you to where you'll be staying."

Selvig led Gajeel away by the arm, not paying attention to his protests. Darcy leaned over to Jane.

"So how's it feel to have super strength, eh?"

. . .

Erza stretched out on her sleeping bag, uncomfortably aware of her armor. Usually she would requip into something more fitting for sleeping, but as she had no magical power, that ability was not in her grasp. Still, she had handled it better than Thor. The God of Thunder had pouted upon learning that he was going to sleep on the floor, only stopping after Erza sent a withering glare his way. Suitably mollified, Thor was now sleeping on the other side of the couch, snoring like a dragon.

Her mind turned to the long conversation she had engaged in with the Doctor whose cabin they were currently staying in. He seemed like a nice, kind man, quite intelligent as well. But Erza had noticed a number of odd things about his behavior. He was perpetually nervous and seemed to avoid several questions that she asked of him, like where he was from, what his work as Doctor entailed, and why he was living in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. He avoided direct eye contact as much as possible, preferring to look at the wall or the forehead of the person he was talking to.

He was hiding something. Erza was sure of it. She just didn't know what.

As she drifted off into sleep, the thought occupied her mind. What could their host, who embodied the frumpy scientist, possibly be hiding?

. . .

"Agent Barton."

"Director."

Director Nicholas J. Fury held out a folder, his one eye concentrated on Barton's face. The brown haired agent took it, flipping through with practiced ease.

"Canada?"

"Indeed. There've been some reports of odd lights in the sky around that area, phone calls from some of the locals describe two separate events. You're taking a detachment of a dozen men."

Barton frowned.

"Sir…isn't a dozen a little…overkill for something as flimsy as a reported lightshow?"

Fury raised his eyebrow, his mouth set in a grim line.

"Maybe. But when that lightshow takes place within ten miles of a certain someone, I tend to get a little jumpy. I'm sure you can understand the sentiment, Agent Barton. After all, the last thing we want is for Bruce Banner to be spooked."

"Affirmative, sir. When do I leave?"

"Right now. I want you on the scene within twelve hours."

"Yes sir."

* * *

 **Woohoo! Chapter 3 is done!**

 **I apologize if this wasn't the most exciting chapter in the world. There was a lot of set up that needed to happen, with SHIELD, and with the MCU as a whole. I wanted to get the introduction stuff out of the way and have Erza and Gajeel finally enter Earth culture, at least to a certain extent. Next chapter will have more action in it, I promise.**

 **Forgive me, Gajeel fans, for that one part. He will get his vengeance on Darcy eventually. Though he won't murder her. Probably.**

 **Next chapter: First contact between SHIELD and the Fairies, Jane's Ethernano condition, a look into the political happenings on Asgard, and a surprise appearance!**


	4. Chapter 4: Strange Encounters

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **A new week, a new chapter! A rather Gajeel centric chapter as well, but don't worry, I'll make up for it next chapter with a lot more Erza. Buckle your seat belts! Please keep your hands, feet and head inside the fanfic, we are OooouuuUTTA here!**

* * *

There were insane asylum escapees in his house.

That was the thought that was running through Bruce Banner's head as he tried to get to sleep. Tried being the operative word; the thunderous snores of a certain man who self identified as the 'God of Thunder' were preventing that from happening. Still, Bruce supposed it could be worse. While the two were obviously insane, at least they couldn't in any way be spies or agents; Bruce was certain of that now. No intelligence operative worth his or her salt would have concocted such a strange and unbelievable tale. Honestly. A man who was actually some kind of Norse God from another world, and a magician who could pull weapons out of midair? It was ludicrous. It was impossible. And yet, despite everything pointing logically towards that conclusion, Bruce still couldn't quite shake the feeling that his two visitors were both sane and telling the truth.

The feelings were there, low and steady, and Bruce knew that they came from the Other Guy. While his other half wasn't a very logical thinker, the 'Hulk' (as the media now called him in the wake of the mess in Harlem) had excellent instincts for danger, among other things. While such gut level feelings went against Bruce's scientific ideology, he had learned to trust his instincts after years of having the beast inside of him.

Plus, the mere fact that he could transform into said beast did allow him to have an open mind about his guests. Compared to an invincible green giant with nearly unlimited strength, how odd were their stories, really? Still pretty odd. But they were at least in the realm of possibility. Kinda.

Bruce sighed and turned over, smoothing down an errant strand of black hair. The clock over his bed showed that it was almost midnight. Shit. Bruce groaned and slumped back down in his bed. No matter how hard he tried, he could not shut his mind off tonight.

What was that name that the woman had mentioned? Bruce thought back. The name of her 'mages guild'. Ahh…Fairy Tail.

What a silly name, Bruce thought as sleep finally embraced him. Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail.

. . .

Fucking Fairy Tail, Gajeel thought to himself as he sat on the kitchen counter of Selvig and Jane's lab, a small pile of forks next to him. If it hadn't been for Makarov and his damn meddling, if he'd just left him alone in the scrapheap that had once been Phantom Lord HQ…or better yet, if Jose had never gone on that fucking crusade against the Fairies. Or even if…ah well. He was here now. Here, stuck without magic in a strange place, where he was supposed to help save the life of a woman that he barely knew. The real stickler was that he couldn't _do_ anything. He didn't know a damn thing about Ethernano. And the one person he knew who did know a damn thing was nowhere to be found.

It was enough to drive him batty. Gajeel picked up a fork and crunched down on it, rolling around the tines in his mouth. He grunted as he chewed; one good thing about being in this place, the metal tasted fantastic. Much higher quality than back home. At least 95% iron, if not more so. It was bliss for the Dragonslayer.

"What in God's name are you doing?"

Gajeel didn't spare Selvig a glance, instead choosing to bend the rest of the poor piece of cutlery into his mouth. After nearly twenty seconds of loud crunching (during which Selvig looked distinctly put out), Gajeel swallowed and turned, responding simply with "Breakfast."

"Ah. Well. Will you be having coffee as well?"

Gajeel gave a noncommittal grunt and picked up another fork. Selvig studiously ignored him and began puttering around the kitchen, setting out coffee beans and a rasher of bacon.

"Jane and Darcy won't be up for quite a while. When everyone is fed, we're heading to the hospital. Would you like to—"

"I broke out of there last night, old man. Whaddya think, I'm gonna go right back with ya?"

Erik nodded, considering the answer a logical one.

"Besides…I hate hospitals."

"You do?"

Gajeel curled his lip, revealing glinting canines.

"Geh. Damn places always smell like death and old people. I heal quick enough that I don't need to go to one anyways."

Erik absorbed the information in silence and put the bacon on to fry. Soon, the small kitchen was filled with sounds of sizzling and popping grease, the overpowering smell of bacon settling over all.

Gajeel's sensitive nose twitched; while he actually liked bacon a great deal, the smell could get incredibly irritating. Dragon slayer's noses were such temperamental things. With a grunted goodbye, Gajeel slid off the counter and walked out into the morning sun, the forks held by his side.

Selvig watched their otherworldly guest leave—for that was indeed what he believed Gajeel to be now. The incident with the Ethernano poisoning had destroyed any doubts he had been harboring. Now, he had a quest to find this woman, Erza, and learn as much about the new mysterious magical energy as he could. Both for Jane's sake…and for the world's.

"Do I smell bacon?"

Darcy glided into the kitchen, a practically undead Jane Foster on her heels. Selvig nodded towards the pan.

"In there. Jane, I have coffee ready for the both of us. You look like you need it."

Jane moaned out a word that could have been "Coffeeee" or "Braaaaiiiins" and headed straight for the mug cabinet. Darcy pulled up a bar stool and put her elbows on the counter, watching the bacon with ravenous attention when not looking at everything else.

"I saw tall, dark and toothy leaving out the front door on my way here. Any idea what he's up to?"

Erik shook his head and said "He just left with all of the forks. He doesn't seem to be a morning person."

Darcy grinned sardonically and responded "Or a day person. Or a night person. Hey, are we even sure if he's human? I mean, he looks pretty human 'sides from the eyes and the teeth."

Selvig fished the bacon out of the pan and dabbed some of the grease off.

"He said he was raised by a dragon back when we talked to him."

Darcy blinked in surprise.

"A dragon? Seriously? Dude. That is so cool. I wonder if he has a dragon dick."

Jane, who had been quietly drinking her coffee during the exchange, promptly spat her drink out across the kitchen. Erik sighed deeply and rubbed his face with his hands. Outside, Gajeel was laughing so hard he had to hold onto a signpost to stop from falling over. While he hadn't been eavesdropping per se, he had still heard everything that had been said.

Maybe he wouldn't murder Darcy after all. She had a dirty sense of humor; he liked that in a woman.

. . .

Clint Barton squinted through his rangefinder, trying to see into the windows of Banner's home. So far, nothing seemed to be moving, but that could change at any moment. Two of his assigned team were blocking the road that led to the residence, just in case of visitors, while another two watched their Jeeps. Three more were positioned around the house, with Barton making up the fourth point. The remaining five members had gone to the location where the purported light show had been located.

Standard protocol would have been to have all thirteen agents investigate the events, but when Banner was involved, standard protocol went out the window. Thus, Agent Hawkeye and more than half of his team were to keep an eye on Banner while the other agents investigated the actual object of the mission. Fury's orders.

There was a sudden flurry of movement inside of the cabin. A red headed woman walked into view, her hair colour startlingly similar to a certain agent that Barton knew. Barton narrowed his eyes; was that a _breastplate_? Who used medieval weaponry in this day and age? Oh wait, Barton thought, and smirked to himself. He tapped on the comm that was attached to his ear.

"Code 421. Patch me in to the Director."

While Clint waited for the Director to connect, he continued to observe the woman. She looked young, in her twenties, perhaps, and she had a sleek, athletic build. Barton switched his rangefinder to recording mode, determined to send as much information back to SHIELD as he could.

"Agent Barton, report."

"Director. We're in position around Banner's residence. There's an unidentified in there. Female, Eurasian, red hair, mid 20's, seems to be wearing a breastplate."

"A breastplate?" Barton could pick up a hint of disbelief in Fury's voice.

"Yes sir. There's some kind of symbol on it as well that I'm not familiar with."

"You're recording?"

"Yes sir."

"Send the video feed down to linguistics. They can take a look at it. Anything else of note?"

Barton took a few moments to send the file to SHIELD, taking extra care to select the address for the Linguistics department; he then flicked his view to another window in time to see Banner walk by. The doctor greeted the woman, showing no signs of hostility, while a tall man with shoulder length blond hair walked into view

"Banner is up and moving. He seems to be in control and friendly. There's another unidentified in there as well. Male, Caucasian, blond hair, late 20's. What's the call?"

A quiet huff of air came over Barton's comm, and he knew the Director was thinking. They hadn't anticipated Banner having guests. After nearly ten seconds, Fury spoke up again.

"Two strange visitors show up at Banner's cabin after two light shows happen in the woods of Canada no more than ten miles from his location. It can't be coincidence."

Barton hummed in agreement.

"An incident is the last thing that we want, but these strangers need to be investigated. Do not approach until they're clear of Banner. Do you copy?"

"I copy, Director."

Barton terminated the connection and went back to watching the odd trio. They were talking now; while their lips were difficult to read at this range, Barton was able to pick up the general gist of the conversation. The woman was thanking Banner for letting them stay the night, before the tall man interjected, saying something about great honor and…Asard? As guard? Has guard? An unfamiliar word then. Banner looked vaguely uncomfortable and offered breakfast, which both of the strangers promptly agreed to. Odd. Banner's file stated that he was a reserved sort of man. Why would he let two strangers into his house?

His comm bleeped, indicating that someone from his team was attempting to contact him. Barton tapped it and asked "Agent Barton. What is it?"

"Sir. We've found the sites."

"So there were two events for certain then."

"Actually sir, we found three distinct sites." The agent responded.

Barton frowned, pulling his attention away from his rangefinder. There had been only two events mentioned. What was the third site?

"What do you mean, three sites? What's at them?"

The agent paused then said in an odd tone "There's a crater on an island in the middle of Hope Lake. And in the center of it…is a metal warhammer."

. . .

Gajeel sat on top of the roof of the lab, having finished off the last of his cutlery only a few minutes past. The heat of the day was just starting to ramp up, as it was wont to do in the middle of New Mexico, even during the colder months. The eggheads (and Darcy) had left to take Jane to the hospital, leaving him all alone. It gave him some time to think.

He wasn't in Earthland anymore. Somehow, the thought wasn't as weird as it sounded. Yeah, it was weird, but Gajeel had never led what could be called a normal life. Being raised by a dragon in a world filled with demons and magic could do wonders for your ability to believe just about anything.

Still, Gajeel was pissed that it seemed like he couldn't do magic here. Not a whit of magic power had entered him since his arrival; not even eating iron had restored any magic to his reserves. He supposed if it came down to it, he could eat the Ethernano shards, but the thought made him shiver. Who would voluntarily eat that stuff? Not even Salamander was crazy enough for that, Gajeel wagered.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment, sir?"

Gajeel looked down at the sound of the voice. A middle aged man stood in front of the building, wearing sunglasses and a well pressed suit. He was balding and didn't look like much of a threat. Gajeel sniffed the air. He was however, carrying a weapon; Gajeel could smell the slight tinge of gunpowder on his person.

"Suppose so. Whaddya want?" Gajeel said with his best sneer.

The man didn't look phased in the slightest; he simply smiled amiably and responded with "I'm looking for a Jane Foster and Erik Selvig. This is their lab, correct?"

Gajeel grunted. The man just pressed forward, saying "Good. And you are?"

"Gajeel Redfox."

If the man was surprised by the name, he didn't show it.

"Phil Coulson. Thank you for your time."

The man whom Gajeel now knew as Phil Coulson turned away, walking back to the road and towards a black automobile. Once he was out of range of 'Gajeel', Coulson tapped his earpiece.

"I've made first contact, Director."

Fury's voice came over the comm, sounding dissatisfied. Then again, that was the perpetual state the Director lived in, so Phil paid it no mind.

"Affirmative. Describe the subject."

Phil pulled open the door of the car and slid in.

"Male, Eurasian, black hair, mid 20's. Self identified as Gajeel Redfox. The symbol I saw on his arm is a definite match to the one from Barton's video that was on the female's amour."

Fury sighed, a long, deep sound of relief.

"So it wasn't a coincidence. The events sounded similar but now there's no doubt. They're connected, maybe even part of the same organization. Hmph. I'm declaring this a Level 6 case now, Coulson."

Phil uttered a "Yes sir." SHIELD had 10 levels of clearance for information. Most normal cases were in the 1-4 range and the information could be accessed by agents who had the corresponding levels of clearance. Beyond level 5, though, is where things got really interesting.

And this definitely qualified as interesting.

"Anything else worthy of note, Agent Coulson?"

"I counted at least ten piercings. Oh, and he had red irises."

Fury sucked in a surprised breath. Phil heard him bite back a low curse.

"Of course he does. Call in any agents you need to deal with him, should he show any metahuman abilities. Do you copy, Agent Coulson?"

"I hear you loud and clear, sir."

As the car drove away, Gajeel allowed a smile to split his face, showing his lengthened canines to great extent.

"Gi hee hee…I hear you loud and clear as well… _Director_."

. . .

On the distant world of Asgard, Heimdall stood at the doorway of the Bifrost, watching Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun approach. The Warriors Three and the Goddess of War marched with quick, even strides, though Heimdall could see doubt in their eyes. Heimdall let a small smile grace his face. One of the few enjoyments he allowed himself was in knowing that no one, not even the boasting son of Odin or his companions could stand before him without hesitation.

The portly Volstagg halted and said "Good Heimdall, let us explain—"

Heimdall cut him off and spoke, saying "You would defy the commands of Loki, our King, break every oath you have taken as warriors, and commit treason to bring Thor back?"

The four glanced among themselves, hesitant, before Sif finally piped up.  
"Yes, but—"

"Good."

Heimdall moved out of the way to allow the group into the Bifrost antechamber. They waited for a beat before entering. Volstagg spoke again, a cautious optimism in his eyes.

"So you'll help us?"

Heimdall slid his massive claymore into the slot in the center of the antechamber, starting up the Bifrost. He then walked off the platform and turned his magnificent golden eyes onto the foursome.

"I am bound by honour to our King. I cannot open the Bifrost to you."

With that, Heimdall left, clomping out back onto the pulsing rainbow bridge that powered the Bifrost. The Warriors Three and Sif looked miffed by the answer, with Fandral remarking "Complicated fellow, isn't he?"

As the four of them vanished, shooting through the road on their way to Midgard, Heimdall allowed himself another smile.

He had seen Thor's arrival on Earth; he was not called the Watcher of Worlds for nothing. He had seen the strange newcomers as well, the ones known as Erza Scarlet and Gajeel Redfox. While he did not know from whence they came (which concerned him greatly), he had determined them both to be strong of spirit and firm of character (though the Gajeel one sought to conceal it for some reason). He knew that Thor was currently travelling with this Erza Scarlet. And she would likely still be by his side when the Warriors Three and, in particular, the Lady Sif found Thor.

Heimdall thought it could be one of the most entertaining meetings he'd witnessed in many centuries.

. . .

"Well, I suppose it could be worse."

Selvig ran over the diagnosis the doctor had given to Jane, who was sitting the bland hospital room on the patient bed.

"Yeah", submitted Darcy," You could have been way worse off than getting super strength. That's like, the best outcome you can get from mild radiation poisoning."

Jane rolled her eyes and said "Still, I can't believe I was so careless. I should have—"

"Jane" said Erik as he cut his friend off, "You had no way of knowing what the shards were capable of. While the radiation readings were unusual, they weren't strong enough to warrant anything more than lead attenuated gloves. Which you had. So stop beating yourself up and get your clothes on. We're going back to the lab, you seem to be perfectly fine. The Ethernano poisoning hasn't shown any negative effects yet and even might be receding."

Jane nodded and hurried to get her clothes on. Jane and Erik led the way down the stairs, Darcy trailing several meters behind. As the three of them were leaving the hospital, Darcy bumped into a man, sending him falling to the ground.

"Oh fuck, I mean, I ah…sorry."

The man didn't seem to take offence at Darcy's language though, and he simply smiled.

"It is fine. Your mind was occupied, yes?"

Darcy offered the stranger a hand and he took it, heaving himself up off the ground in one fluid movement. He was an older Asian man, looking to be in his sixties. His eyes were gentle yet hard at the same time, a paradox if ever there was one. He was dressed in flowing black coat with a white shirt, an ornate golden necklace around his neck.

"Uh, yeah. It was. Oh hey, nice necklace dude."

The man chuckled, a soothing burble that completely put Darcy at ease.

"Thank you, my daughter. It is a family heirloom. Tell me, what were you thinking about?"

Something about the man just made Darcy want to tell him everything. So, of course, she did.

"A lot actually. Y'know how it is. There's just your usual everyday crazy guy falling out of the sky and claiming to have been raised by a dragon and then there's how your crazy boss tries to experiment with some magical shards that end up giving her radiation induced super strength. And I still don't have a boyfriend."

Darcy blinked. Why was she telling this to a stranger?

The man didn't look concerned at all. He just smiled again and bowed.

"Of course. Well, I shall be going. Stay safe, Miss Lewis."

Darcy stared after him as he walked away, brows scrunched together as she tried to remember if she'd told the strange guy her name. She could have sworn she hadn't.

"Try to keep up Darcy." called Selvig from the curb, standing by the SUV. Darcy shook her head and walked towards the car, hopping in. What had she been thinking about just now?

. . .

Erza and Thor stood just outside of Bruce's house, finally ready to take their leave. He had been a great help, supplying them with some maps and provisions and even some warmer clothes. And it was quite clear to even the somewhat dense God of Thunder that he wanted both of them out of his cabin.

It wasn't stated in so many words, but Erza could read the man well enough. He had offered to house them during the bitter night, but he didn't want them to stick around any more than was necessary. So, with a few parting words, Erza and Thor left, new supplies in hand.

"So, where to next, Odinson?"

Thor considered this for a moment, before nodding towards the road that cut through the forest.

"We are both newcomers to this land…and while Bruce was helpful, I have yet more information that I seek. My hammer, Mjolnir, it must have fallen to Midgard along with me. I intend to find it and reclaim my power."

Erza frowned and said "How would we go about finding it?"

"I am not entirely sure, but the good Doctor Banner did say that a town called Courtenay lies in that direction. We could journey to there, ask around. Perhaps someone will have seen Mjolnir's descent?"

Erza gave a small nod to indicate her consent.

"Very well. Let us go then. Time is of the essence."

The two of them set off, the mighty Requip mage and the mighty Asgardian Prince, side by side. Red hair and blond, brown eyes and blue, so different in so many ways and yet sharing a single, indomitable spirit. Though both lacked their full power at present, soon the world would learn of their great strength. They just didn't know it yet.

Soon, very soon, the world would witness the might of the Fairy Queen and the God of Thunder.

* * *

 **Ok, so maybe I lied a bit last chapter. This didn't have much action in it. The set-up is real man. IT'S REAL.**

 **But next chapter for sure. Things are finally starting to kick into motion. The Warriors Three and Lady Sif have come down to Midgard, which can only mean a certain mystical golem is not going to be far behind (muahaha). Thor and Erza are going a hunting for Mjolnir, while Gajeel has had first contact with SHIELD and heard everything that was said. Cuz he's a little eavesdropping bitch (no, I'm kidding). Next chapter will have action in it, I swear on all that is holy.**

 **Oh, and a cookie for the people who get who the surprise guest was. And as for your question, yes, the surprise guest will be playing his own part in the future, though I will give away no more than that.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Might of One

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Chapter 5, hoorah. Finally time to get some butt kicking action in.**

 **Do you readers think I should tone down on the swearing? I mean, I feel it's rather integral to certain characters, at least as I write them. But I don't know if I can still honestly call this a T rated story with the large amount of swearing. Leave a review or send me a message telling me what you think!**

 **Let's get down to business then, shall we?**

* * *

Nick Fury had his elbows rested on his desk, his single eye glumly glaring at his office door. Down the hall and throughout the rest of the building, SHIELD agents dashed hither and thither, working in a mad rush as they tried to keep up with the sudden influx of new leads and subjects to investigate.

The cosmos loved to fuck with Nicholas Fury, Director of SHIELD, for some reason. Or at least, it seemed that way to the man himself.

The week had started out well enough. He'd received word from field agents in the Arctic that they thought they'd uncovered an enormous HYDRA bomber, much like the one that crashed nearly seventy years ago. They'd even found the frozen body of Steve Rogers within the bomber; the Captain had somehow managed to survive all that time and was promptly revived. Fury was hopeful that they'd be able to put the old-timer to great use, even in this day and age. Once they defrosted him completely, of course.

Then the rest of the week happened. Tony fucking Stark had nearly killed himself from palladium poisoning while a bunch of shit with Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko had gone down. He'd had to haul ass over to Malibu to give Stark some one on one advice. Fury had been tempted to shove a boot up Stark's smarmy ass, but the billionaire was off limits to such things. Luckily, that mess seemed to be wrapping up; the last report in from Agent Romanoff stated that both Hammer and Vanko were out of action and that Stark was getting his shit together.

Now there was this headache. Thee unknown people had just appeared, seemingly dropping out of the sky. Two of them had landed within a few miles of the home of one of the most dangerous men in the world, and then (the universe fucking with him again, Fury was sure), they had actually stayed the night with said man. The other one had landed in the middle of ass backwards nowhere in the New Mexican Desert—now he was in thick with some physicists that Fury had been eying for potential contract work (because of course he was). While none of them had displayed any metahuman abilities yet, Fury wagered it was only a matter of time. Normal people didn't have red irises or wear breastplates.

In all honesty, Fury hoped that the fuckery would stop there.

The phone on his desk suddenly flashed, indicating a patch from one of the field agents. Fury tapped it.

"Agent Barton."

"Sir. The unidentified persons have left Banner's location. We're initiating contact in a short while."

Fury grunted and said "Good. Anything else to report?"

There was a long pause of silence. Fury knitted his brows together and scowled.

"Spit it out already, Agent."

"Yes sir. The advance team found a crater with a metal warhammer in it."

Fury frowned, his fingers tapping together.

"Warhammer? I wonder…it might belong to the female wearing the breastplate."

"I don't know about that sir, but apparently it's immovable."

"What do you mean immovable, Agent Barton? As in heavy?"

"No sir. As in immovable. The team reported that nothing they're doing can even budge it."

Fury sighed and recited a long list of colorful expletives inside the privacy of his head.

"Alright. Is there anything else to report, Agent Barton?"

There was another silence, shorter this time, before Barton said "Yes sir. There was another event. Not more than three minutes ago, some kind of beam of light occurred on the outskirts of Courtenay. I'm heading there with a three man team to investigate as we speak."

"Affirmative. Carry on."

The light blinked off as Agent Barton disconnected. Staring at it, Fury was tempted to smash it to tiny pieces. He resisted though; he'd probably need it in the near future. The very near future, if his week continued on like it had been.

. . .

Thor and Erza had barely entered the town of Courtenay when the Bifrost beam appeared, touching down only a few miles from where they were. At the distinct thump, Thor's head had shot up, his eyes fixed on the multicolored cylinder that shot out of the sky.

"That must be the Bifrost that you spoke of." said Erza.

Thor nodded, not looking at his companion. He was overjoyed to see that someone from his home world had travelled to Earth; if it was the Warriors Three or any of his other friends, he would only be more joyful. It was high time to return to Asgard, in his opinion. Though he still needed Mjolnir…bah, that could wait an hour or two.

A grin forming on his face, Thor turned to Erza and spoke, saying "Come, Lady Erza. My fellow Asgardians should not be kept waiting."

Without waiting for an answer, Thor strode off in the direction of the beam, clearly impatient. Erza suppressed a smile and followed. If Thor's people were half as mighty as he made them out to be, they would doubtlessly be able to help her find Gajeel and return home to Fairy Tail.

If they helped her at all. Erza frowned and banished the thought from her mind. She couldn't afford distractions right now; worry could do nothing for her. This was a time for action.

Thor suddenly stopped and changed direction, heading into one of the buildings that hugged the small street. Erza looked up at the battered sign that hung on the front, its faded script reading _Courtenay Pet Store_.

Erza followed after her companion, her curiosity piqued.

"I require a horse!" Thor boomed out, his voice filling the small space and setting a pair of parrots to squawking. He strode between the cages and tanks that littered the pet store, his gaze focused on the store clerk who was manning the cashier.

"You there, young girl, I have need of a noble steed! Tell me, can I purchase one here?"

The cashier, to her credit, kept a nervous smile on her face even as the God of Thunder approached.

"Eh…a horse? W-we don't sell those here."

Thor's brow burrowed.

"No? Then tell me where I might find one. Speed is up the upmost importance at this time."

"Well…why don't you just take the bus?"

"Bus?"

The cashier pointed out towards the street towards a bench, a large white bus rolling up beside it. Thor's face cleared in understanding, and he nodded to the cashier.

"Thank you, Lady…?"

"Brittany."

Thor bowed and motioned to Erza.

"You have my thanks, good Lady Brittany. Come then, my companion. We will take the transport known as bus to where the Bifrost manifested. Onwards!"

As the two of them left, Brittany let out a sigh of relief. Her break couldn't come soon enough; she was done dealing with crazy people for the day.

. . .

The lab where the team of scientists worked was silent, none of the members present save one. Lights blinked steadily on the computer and a discarded barometer as Jane Foster sat in the dark.

Jane brushed a strand of unruly hair behind her ear, her attention focused on the lead safe wherein rested the Ethernano shards. Before he had left to research possible locations for where 'Erza' had landed, Erik had expressly forbidden her from touching them again. It wasn't fair! She couldn't do research if she couldn't be near the shards! And she wanted to see them again. Besides, nothing unfortunate had even resulted from her contact with the shards. As Darcy had said, super strength was the best outcome possible. Maybe she was immune…maybe she could touch them again. Touch them. _Touch_ _them_.

Jane shook her head and turned away. She knew it was a bad idea. A terrible, tremendously stupidly horrible idea to get the shards out again. She'd be breaking Erik's trust and putting her own life in danger for a chance to examine the Ethernano again. It wasn't worth it.

But she wanted to. Every cell of her body seemed pulled to the safe, to that fleeting yet intoxicating sensation she got when she touched the shards. She wanted—no, she _needed_ it. She needed to feel that power again.

The logical side of her brain screamed at her as she ripped the door of the safe off, but it didn't matter to Jane anymore. She just grinned as the virulent blue light of the shards fell on her face, pulsing as if they were excited to see her again.

. . .

Agent Fleming flipped on her comm and whispered "I have visual on the unknowns. They're heading towards the event site."

"Affirmative. Keep an eye on them. We'll be there in under five minutes." came the reply from Barton. Fleming acknowledged and returned to watching the blond man and redheaded woman who had just dismounted the Courtenay bus. She and her partner had been trailing the pair in a plain sedan as soon as they had entered town, keeping an ample amount of distance between them at all times.

A knock on her window caused Fleming to look away from her targets. A handsome man with a short blond beard was outside of the window of the sedan that she was sitting in.

"Yes?" asked Agent Fleming, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

The man smiled winningly and said "My fine lady, my companions and I seem to be in a bit of a bind. Tell me, have you seen a tall, blond man named Thor wandering around anywhere? We seem to have lost him."

The man's question threw the agent for a loop, as did the fact that she just noticed that he was wearing leather and steel armour.

Recovering her senses, and knowing that Barton would want details about this new encounter, Fleming responded "A blond man named Thor? Could you tell me more about him? And what is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You may call me Fandral, oh beauteous one. As for Thor…well, he's tall, carries a hammer, is the Asgardian Crown Prince, likes to fight and has absolutely no sense of propriety. Ring any bells?"

Another voice interjected "Fandral, leave the female alone. We needn't stay longer than necessary, and we don't want to fright the locals."

The man (whom Agent Fleming now knew to be Fandral) turned away towards a rotund man in plate armour with ginger hair and beard and said "Hold your tongue, Volstagg. I wasn't planning on wooing her, I simply thought finding Thor was of the upmost importance; it is not like we're stopping off at a tavern and sampling Midgardian cuisine."

"Oh, a right smart arse, aren't you?"

As the two of them started arguing, Agent Fleming signaled her partner to message Barton.

"Volstagg! Fandral! I see him!"

Both men looked up, and Fleming saw a woman (also wearing armour) gesturing to the two of them and pointing towards where her targets were walking.

Fandral shrugged and bowed to Agent Fleming.

"Another time, my fair lady."

The three of them left as swiftly as they had come, leaving behind two confused and distinctly put out agents.

. . .

"Thor!"

Erza broke off her conversation with Thor to see four people wearing armour come rushing forwards. Upon seeing them, Thor's eyes lighted up.

"Sif! Fandral! Volstagg and Hogun! My friends!"

Thor embraced all four of them in turn, Erza holding a small smile on her face the entire time.

As soon as the Asgardians were finished reuniting, Thor gestured to his companion, who stepped forwards.

"My friends…I have yet to introduce you to my companion that has been with me since I landed on Midgard. This is the Lady Erza, a warrior from a realm beyond Heimdall's sight. Lady Erza, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif."

Fandral had a light blush dusting his cheeks as he executed a sweeping bow, seemingly smitten by the woman.

"It seems Thor has stolen the fairest maiden in the land to be by his side, once again."

Erza raised a confused eyebrow at that, while Sif rolled her eyes and lightly whacked Fandral on the back of the head. She stepped forwards next, her gaze cold and calculating. Erza returned it bit for bit, the two women eying each other critically.

"A warrior from a realm beyond Heimdall's sight, you say? She must be a great warrior then…or a liar. I refuse to believe until I have proof, for everyone knows Heimdall sees all."

Erza's eyes narrowed at the woman's dismissal of her.

"Perhaps one day _she_ will show you, Lady Sif."

The Asgardian snorted and turned to Thor.

"We have no time to waste with mortals. Make haste, we didn't come down to Midgard for tea and cakes. You are needed back home."

Thor frowned deeply, thinking back to his attitude that he had taken with the Queen of Fairies only yesterday.

"Tread carefully, Sif. Lady Erza is indeed mighty; she was able to defeat me in this form, and she has had her power taken as well. I am sure that once she regains her former strength, she would be delighted to engage in battle. And of what do you speak when you say I am needed at home?"

Volstagg interjected before Sif could protest, saying "The Odinsleep has claimed the All Father, and Loki is acting as king in his stead."

Thor scrunched his eyebrows together and said "While I am concerned for my father, I know not why this warranted a visit to Midgard in such haste. After all, Loki is as capable as I ruling Asgard for a short time. Why this worry?"

Hogun, his grim face even more somber than usual, held up a hand, indicating he wished to speak.

"You remember what Laufey said on Jotunheim?"

Thor's face darkened and he ground out "None in my family are traitors, Hogun. Loki has ever been a loyal brother and friend, why must you question him so?"

"Loki let the Frost Giants into Asgard, Thor. The group that tried to steal the Cask of Ancient Winters on your coronation day."

Thor looked dumbstruck at that statement, then shook his head resolutely.

"No. I will not believe it. Even he is not that petty."

Sif grabbed onto Thor's shoulder and shook him.

"He is the only one who knows the doors hidden from Heimdall's sight! Who else could it have been?"

Thor still shook his head and said "Someone else, I will not believe it until I see proof of these crimes. He has always been mischievous, but my brother would not stoop to such a level. He is—"

At that moment, there was a loud thump as a shaft of rainbow light shot down from the heavens, alighting down not a dozen meters from where the five Asgardians and one Fairy Tail mage were standing. The force of the impact was immense, cracking the ground and throwing Fandral and Volstagg to the ground. Erza grit her teeth together as she watched the Bifrost beam pummel the ground, the wind whipping around it in frenzied streams. Then, suddenly, the beam vanished, and all was still again.

Still, except for the enormous metal golem that slowly straightened up, it's form towering over the party.

All of the Asgardians looked at the golem for several moments, their mouths hanging open.

"The Destroyer. But why is it here?"

From within the golem came a hollow, distorted laugh.

"A present for you, brother. Do you like it?"

Thor's eyes widened in utter surprise.

"Loki? What devilry is this?"

There was no response from the Destroyer as its face plate receded downwards, revealing nothing but swirling, hungry energy.

Erza barely managed to pull Thor out of the way as a beam of golden death arced out of the golem's helmet, carving a deep scar on the road.

And thus, the battle began.

Fandral and Hogun circled around, while Volstagg charged straight towards the golem with a loud war cry, his battle axe raised high above his head. The Destroyer batted him aside with a casual flick of its arm, its faceplate sliding down again to fire another beam, this time at Sif. The Goddess of War stood firm, her shield raised to protect Thor (and by extension, Erza).

As the ravenous force began to build inside of the Destroyer's head, Fandral leaped up onto its back and thrust his sword completely through its body. The golem's faceplate slid back up, the fire inside of it dying.

Fandral wiped his brow and laughed, saying "Well, that was easier than I thought."

An arm shot out and bashed into Fandral with a sickening thud. He crashed through a store window and came to a stop, unmoving.

The Destroyer powered back to life, the sword it was impaled upon melting into a useless strip of metal.

"This construct was designed to protect the vault that contains the most dangerous objects in all of the Nine Realms. Did you think it would be easy to defeat it?" echoed the hollow voice of Loki from the Destroyer.

Thor pushed his way past Sif, his face twisted into a snarl.

"Speak to me, Loki, or I swear I will tear you limb from limb! Why have you sent the Destroyer here? What is your purpose?"

The Destroyer's head tilted to the side, and Thor imagined Loki's smarmy face plastered on the front of it.

"My purpose? Well I thought that would have been clear. Obviously you're an even greater oaf than I thought, Thor. You see, I'm securing the future of Asgard—"

Hogun, who had been approaching stealthily from the left, lunged at the golem. The Destroyer caught him in its gigantic hand and turned its empty helmet towards him, the fire inside welling up once again.

"—one traitor at a time. Goodbye, Hogun of Vanaheim."

Hogun fought against the Destroyer, his stern scowl lighting up as the beam built in power.

With a powerful yell, Volstagg rejoined the battle, his mighty axe severing the arm that held Hogun completely, the beam lancing out and destroying a coffee shop instead of Hogun's head.

As the golem and his companions fought, Thor looked on, helpless. He could do nothing to stop this. Here, without his power, he was so much dead weight for his friends to pull, and the battle was not improving. Fandral was already down for the count, Hogun had nearly died, and Volstagg had a nasty bruise on the side of his face. As he watched, the Destroyer's arm began reattaching to its body, the metal plates sliding together as if they had never been separated.

What was he supposed to do here? How could he help when he had no power?

"Odinson."

Thor looked towards his companion. Erza was staring at the Destroyer, the same frustration Thor was feeling evident in her eyes.  
"Can your friends defeat this foe?"

Thor thought for a moment, trying not to wince as Sif was thrown into a car, the vehicle flying back several meters.

"I…do not know. Asgardians are mighty…but the Destroyer is a guardian of even greater strength. With my full power I could, perhaps, defeat it. But as it is now…"

Erza nodded, her lips drawn into a deep frown.

"Very well. I will do what I must…to protect the townspeople from this threat."

With that Erza began to walk forwards, towards the golem which was currently stepping on Volstagg, its faceplate fully down.

Thor grabbed onto Erza's arm, preventing her from advancing.

"Are you mad, Titania? You are a mere mortal, the same as I at this time! You cannot hope to—"

"Unhand me, Odinson. I may be weak, yes. But I will not stand by as others are hurt. If I am fighting for friends, I care not what happens to this body."

Erza removed Thor's hand and squeezed it.

"Never surrender, even when it seems that victory is impossible, Odinson. That is the Fairy Tail way."

With that, Erza left, striding towards the Destroyer. Thor just stared after her, not knowing what to say.

. . .

As she drew nearer to the golem, Erza reached into her armour and brought out a small, glowing shard. An Ethernano shard.

She'd kept one on her ever since leaving the forest. She knew it was a risk; after all, concentrated magical essence was poisonous and deadly. But Natsu's transformation had given her some ideas.

She needed power and she needed it now. There was a high probability it wouldn't work. She could die, or be turned into some slavering beast; yet, Erza did not care about that. There were lives at stake, and Thor's friends were fighting that thing with everything they had.

It was the least she could do to give her all as well.

"You! Loki!"

The Destroyer turned its head away from the fallen Volstagg, tendrils of fire swirling within.

"Wait your turn, mortal."

"No. I will not allow you to hurt anyone else. Your next opponent is me."

The golem that was controlled by Loki turned fully towards Erza, another metallic laugh echoing from inside its body.

"This should prove amusing. Come, show me the frail might of Midgard."

Erza smiled tightly and held the Ethernano shard up.

"If you insist. Know, however, that I am no maiden of Midgard."

Erza's eyebrows met as she yelled "I am Erza Scarlet, Mage of Fairy Tail!"

With that, Erza popped the shard into her mouth and bit down, chewing for several seconds. The Destroyer's head tilted again.

"That was anticlimactic. Was that supposed to—"

Erza's eyes suddenly clouded over with vibrant blue energy, and she let out a strained scream. The pavement around her cracked as she absorbed the Ethernano into her body, magical energy coursing through her veins.

Back on Asgard, Loki's eyes widened and he said "Oh."

Blue veins bulging out from her body, Erza thrust out a hand. A broadsword materialized out of midair, glimmering golden until it solidified. Then, with a wordless screech, Erza charged.

The Destroyer was sent skidding back several meters from the first, powerful hit; a molten scar ran across its body. As it charged up its beam, Erza disappeared from sight, reappearing on top of the golem. She thrust her sword down, impaling the construct through the head while summoning a spear. As the Destroyer tried to hit her, Erza flipped off of its back and charged again, impaling it in the head again.

"You think this will slow this form down? These tiny pinpricks are nothing to—"

" **Requip! Purgatory Armour!** "

Loki's comment was interrupted as the Destroyer was sent flying down the road, its metal body leaving small potholes in the pavement.

Sif watched from her car, dumbstruck, as Erza stood up straight, wearing midnight black armor covered in spikes. A gigantic mace, also covered in savage spikes, was in one of her hands. Her gaze seemed unbalanced and almost malevolent as she glared at the Destroyer.

"Did I ask for your opinion, whelp!"

Erza bounded forwards, the mace whipping around with ferocious speed. It crashed into the Destroyer's body, leaving a large dent on its chest.

"I will not allow you to hurt the friends of my friend any longer!" shouted Erza, punctuating her words with ground shattering blows. "Know your place, you oversized pile of scrap me—"

Erza suddenly halted her attack, her armour fading away as she clutched at her throat. She fell off of the Destroyer and started convulsing on the ground.

Thor bellowed out "Erza!" as the Destroyer stood up.

Loki's smug voice came from the battered Destroyer, saying "Well, I certainly didn't expect that level of power, but it seems like whatever you took is poisoning you. Should I put you out of your misery?"

Erza just shivered on the ground, unable to respond, liquid fire filling her veins. The magical energy from the Ethernano was too foreign, too powerful. She had tried to control it, and had succeeded for a very short time. But now, even her high magical resistance could not save her. She had failed.

The Destroyer's faceplate slid down once more, and as Erza looked up, she saw the fiery death that awaited her.

Before the beam could rip into her though, she saw a body blocking her vision.

"Loki! Stop this madness!"

Thor stood with his arms outstretched, shielding his companion. The golem's fire receded slightly.

Thor pressed on, saying "She is of no concern to you. Please, spare her. Leave back to Asgard. I will not pursue you if you let her live."

The Destroyer's head tilted again. Thor felt a cautious hope creep into him.

Then the powerful beam lanced into him, burning into his flesh.

Thor flew over next to Erza and landed on the asphalt, coughing up blood.

"I don't like your offer, brother. I'd much rather kill her."

Thor felt intense pain radiating through his body. He turned his face to Erza, whose eyes were closed and twitching, like she had a severe fever.

 _I will not stand by as others are hurt. If I am fighting for friends, I care not what happens to this body._

"Now, Thor, I am afraid—"

 _I will do what I must._

"—that I am soon to be an only child."

 _That is the Fairy Tail way._

As the life receded from his body, Thor finally understood. Looking at this woman lying next to him, he understood. And nearly twenty miles away, the ground began to shake as a mighty hammer felt its master's call.

As Mjolnir burst from the ground with a violent rush, Thor stretched out his hand towards the heavens.

The Destroyer looked up, seeing the hammer streaking across the sky at a devilish pace.

For the second time that day, all that Loki had time to say was a startled "Oh."

The hammer walloped the Destroyer as it flew into Thor's hand, lightning raining down from the sky as the God of Thunder reclaimed his title. Hurricane strength winds blew through the forests of Canada as Thor's garb was replaced with gleaming Asgardian armour, a red cape flowing over his shoulders and down his back. He held Mjolnir aloft and yelled, putting every ounce of his rage, relief, and joy into his voice.

Then, Thor lowered Mjolnir and pointed it towards the Destroyer, his blue eyes piercing and full of righteous flame.

"You will not touch her again, brother."

* * *

 **(cue the badass fighting music)**

 **Well. So that was some action, huh? I hope you enjoyed the first major fight of the series. There will be many more, don't worry.**

 **Now, I feel I should explain something. Firstly, humans from Earth have no natural resistance to Ethernano as it does not exist within their universe, so I think it's logical that even brief contact would be addictive to people like Jane, at least early on. Meanwhile, Erza and all other mages are naturally attuned to certain kinds of magical energy; thus, Ethernano will be toxic to them. As for Erza absorbing Ethernano, well, it was only temporary, it gave her a badass moment, and I think it's reasonable. Disagree if you like, but hey, my fic.**

 **Anyways, leave a review, favourite, or follow.**

 **Next chapter: Thor vs. the Destroyer, SHIELD's reaction to the grudge match in Canada, and the conditions of Erza and Jane continue to ramp up.**


	6. Chapter 6: To Asgard!

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **I've got a few surprises in the works for this fic, though they probably won't appear for a loooong time. Just know that eventually, there will be other FT mages appearing, among other things.**

 **I am sooo sorry for the month and a half wait. The fight scene between Thor and the Destroyer was a bugger to write (the movie fight was so…anti-climactic, y'know? I wanted something with a bit more feeling to it). I know it's a bit short, and I might have actually gone overboard with it. Tell me what you think in a review or PM, as always.**

 **Alrighty, why don't we just get started? Shiny?**

* * *

A massive storm swirled over the town of Courtenay, strong winds whipping their way through the streets and circling up into the flickering eye that hovered over the intersection of Kirby Lane and Lee Road.

Clint Barton looked up at the abnormal weather formation that hadn't existed two minutes prior. He smirked to himself while he recorded as much data as he could, intent on capturing everything.

"Just wait til Fury hears about this."

One of the agents who worked under him worked her way to his side. Agent…Fleming, if he remembered correctly.

"Interesting weather we're having, Agent Fleming. You know anything about what's caused it?"

The woman grimaced and said "Sir…I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"Well…our targets met up with four unknowns, all of them wearing armour and carrying archaic weaponry. They were friendly; I'd say it's likely they're from the same group, what with the way they greeted each other. Then this huge… _thing_ …dropped out of the sky—literally—and engaged them. It looked a bit like something of Stark's. And after that…I…I'm not sure I can put it to words properly."

Barton grinned wolfishly and responded "This your first rodeo, Agent?"

"I'm only Level 3, if that's what you're asking."

"Well, Agent Fleming, things are probably going to get a hell of a lot more interesting from here on out."

And, Barton hoped, with any luck it wouldn't get quite up to _Budapest_ levels.

His earpiece bleeped; Barton tapped it.

"Barton. How's the evac going?"

" _Mostly done. Enlisted some of the locals. How're things looki' out there?_ "

A flicker of movement caught Barton's eye. _Was that a_...yeah. Yeah it was. A flying man with a red cape and a hammer; Barton raised his eyebrows, his grin widening dryly.

"There's a guy with a cape flying in the middle of the tornado. Barton out."

Yeah…Fury was _not_ going to be happy about this.

. . .

Thor caught the beam that the Destroyer fired, deflecting its destructive power downwards to harmlessly pummel the concrete. Grimacing, he adjusted his grip on his mighty hammer and roared, slinging it towards the golem. Calling it back to his hand, Thor twirled it and flew forwards at a blistering pace, slamming into the Destroyer and knocking it down the street for a few dozen meters, the storm only growing more intense.

Hailstones began pelting the surrounding area as the golem stood, the furiously circling winds pulling upwards on its mass. The Destroyer's faceplate slid down to fire another golden beam as it lifted off of the ground, the storm forcing it towards the hovering Thor. Thor knocked this beam away as well, aiming the destructive light out into the forest, away from the town and the people in it. During the lull that followed, Loki's voice echoed from inside of the hollow body of the construct, several dents popping outwards and smoothing over as if they had never existed.

"I commend you on your prowess, brother. You always were better than I at beating others into submission. Though the storm is a bit much."

Fierce eyes full of battle lust looked down upon the Destroyer—Thor gripped the shaft of Mjolnir until his knuckles whitened, all hints of playfulness gone.

"Is this all a game to you, Loki? What purpose could this possibly serve? The people of Midgard reap the consequences of your schemes, and they deserve it not! Tell me… _why are you here_!"

The Destroyer tilted its head, orange liquid running out of its body and swirling into the storm, circling like so many fireflies.

"Why? I thought I told you. You aren't _worthy_ of the crown, Thor. You would throw Asgard into chaos with your arrogance and stupidity. And after I take care of you…well, put plainly, I mean to rule Midgard. The mortals have had it far too good, for _far_ too long. I will rule them, and punish them, if needs be. I think I'll start with that crimson haired friend of yours; she needs some _discipline_."

Mjolnir slammed into the Destroyer's faceplate, crumpling the left side of its face. The hammer flew down and buried itself in the road, though Loki's voice continued unheeded.

"Temper, temper brother. One might think you've grown fond of the wench. Tell me, how many times did she open her legs for you? Was it before or after she got on her knees to—"

" _ **Enough**_!"

Thor smashed into the Destroyer again, black rage fuelling him. He bore it down to the ground, the force of their two bodies cracking the concrete. Grabbing the head of the construct, Thor began to rip it apart with his bare hands, the Asgardian alloy protesting under his grip. Thor felt the edges cutting into his palms, but with a feral yell, he ripped the Destroyer's head open. Summoning Mjolnir, Thor jammed it down the construct's neck and let loose a lightning bolt, its arms and legs twitching before it fell still, more acidic looking yellow fluid dripping out of it. The glow from within the body diminished until a husk of dead metal was all that remained of the once mighty golem.

The storm that hovered over Courtenay vanished as suddenly as it had come, the black storm clouds and intense winds dissipating within seconds.

Thor let out a shuddering breath, reigning in the rage and power. He felt…exhausted, to put it simply. Having his powers restored to him suddenly, _after_ nearly dying to the Destroyer's deadly beam, _and_ _then_ fighting said construct...it was taxing, even for a god.

It did feel amazing to be himself again, though.

Rising up off of the empty shell that had once been the protector of Odin's vault, Thor took in another breath before turning towards his fellow Asgardians. Fandral and Volstagg gave him nervous smiles; they seemed unnerved by his display of brutality against the Destroyer. Hogun was as stoic as always, though that was to be expected.

Thor's eyebrows rose upon beholding Sif and Erza. The Goddess of War was supporting the Fairy Tail mage, her arm wrapped around her middle as she kept the crimson haired woman on her feet. Erza herself looked worse for wear, her veins still coursing blue, though they shone less brightly than before. She gave Thor a painful smile before a convulsion wracked her body, Sif holding on to her tightly. Thor stepped forwards with concern written large on his face and an exclamation of "Lady Erza!"

Erza shook her head and managed to grate out a wheezy "I'm fine."

Sif bit back a chuckle, Erza's convulsions stopping.

"Truly, if this is what 'fine' looks like, I would be loath to observe what you consider wounded."

Thor laughed as well, and after a few moments, Volstagg and Fandral joined in. Even Hogun cracked a smile as the nervous energy of battle bled away, if ever so slightly.

As they lapsed back into silence, Thor heard someone clear their throat. Turning towards the noise, Thor beheld a Midgardian man, dressed in black and armed with a bow and quiver. Though his bow was not drawn at present, his stance spoke of readiness in the face of unknown odds.

"Hell of a fight there. If I might ask, you're not planning on repeating it, right? My superiors wouldn't be too happy about it."

Thor narrowed his eyes at the man, trying to puzzle out the meaning behind the words, before nodding slowly.

"The Destroyer is…well, destroyed. I have no quarrel with those of Midgard and wish to cause you no more trouble."

If the man was caught off guard by any part of the statement, he didn't show it. His lips curled into a miniscule smirk and he asked "Good. And you are?"

"Thor Odinson, of Asgard. These are my companions."

"Agent Clint Barton. I'm an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

Fandral whistled, saying "And I thought Asgardians were fond of long names."

Barton smiled tightly.

"Just call us SHIELD. We're the ones who protect people from things they aren't ready to deal with yet. Like this. Now, I have a rather large number of questions to ask you, so if you will just—"

Holding up a hand, Thor stopped his speech.

"My greatest apologies, Barton of SHIELD, but I cannot. One of my companions is gravely afflicted, and my brother wreaks havoc in my homeland even as we speak. I swear that I mean your people no harm, and that I will return at a later time to have words with your leader about the protection of Midgard, but for now, I must depart."

Clint frowned and said "Very well. Would it be alright if I send one of my own along with you? It could help speed things along if we know more about your society beforehand."

Thor considered it before nodding slowly.

"I see little harm in it. If we will be working together in the future, gaining the trust of your…division…is important."

Sif and Hogun looked displeased at the prospect, while Volstagg murmured to his blond compatriot, "When did Thor learn how to be diplomatic?"

Fandral snorted, his amusement clear. It faded and was replaced by something else when he saw the agent that Barton ushered forwards.

"You feel up to a vacation, Agent Fleming?"

"Always did want to go to space, sir."

Thor smiled at the addition to the party, then tilted his head back.

"Heimdall! Open the bridge! We have wounded here, and Loki needs to be stopped!"

Silence followed after the call, the Asgardians shifting awkwardly.

"He let us through the first time. Any time now."

Barton raised an eyebrow from his perch on a bit of rubble.

"Right. Any time now."

Sif glared at Barton while Thor called out again "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"

Again, silence accompanied his call. Thor began to grow concerned.

"He would open it if he could. I fear the worst."

The Asgardians looked at each other with growing unease, thoughts of Loki killing the stalwart Guardian crowding their minds.

. . .

Gajeel strolled down the streets of Puente Antiguo, not really caring where he was going. His journey had no end point; rather, as he walked, he used his enhanced Dragon Slayer senses to track the two men who were following him. They'd showed up shortly after that 'Coulson' had left, thinking they were sneaky. Gajeel let out a _tch_. To be fair, they were sneaky. Just not sneaky enough to avoid notice, especially if Gajeel knew he was being watched.

Turning into an alleyway, Gajeel cocked his head, steel-studded ears twitching.

" _Subject has_ …. _alley. Lost visual_. _Do we….subject….pursue….affirmative."_

Gajeel snickered, his unique _gihihi_ sounding off down the narrow space. His stalkers would be approaching soon. He jumped up and grabbed onto a pipe hanging off the side of the building next to him, shimmying up until he could roll onto the roof. He crouched down and caught his breath before straining his ears again. Both men were approaching the mouth of the alleyway now. One had taken point while the other trailed a few paces behind.

Gajeel's face lit up in a grin that would have scared a barracuda. He grabbed the stone banister and vaulted over the lip of the building, heading straight down. Towards the agents.

" _Subject is gone. We've lost vis—"_

Gajeel's feet crashed down onto the shoulders of the agent trailing behind, knocking him to the ground instantly. The other whirled around, a gun in hand, but Gajeel whacked it out of his grasp before giving him a ringing blow to the side of the head. As the man stumbled backwards, Gajeel leaped forwards, grabbing the back of his head and forcing it into his arising knee. The second agent fell as if his strings were cut, his nose broken and bleeding profusely.

Gajeel picked up one of their guns and gave it a sniff, recoiling in mild disgust. Too much bloody ceramic for it to be a good meal. Shrugging, the Iron Dragon Slayer broke it in half and tossed it away.

" _Agent Smithson, report. What's going on there?_ "

Gajeel picked up the tiny earpiece, raising a single studded eyebrow at it. To think, this little thing ran without magic, and it was more advanced than any communicator he'd ever seen! He wasn't even sure if they _made_ lacrima this small!

Moving on from his wonderment, Gajeel stuck the thing in his ear and listened.

" _Agent Smithson? Are you…wait, these aren't Smithson's vitals…who are you?_ "

"Who wants to know? You're with that Coulson guy, eh? Who's the Director, jackass?"

There was a splutter on the other end of the line, then silence. Gajeel grunted, toying with the idea of crushing the damn thing before another voice came on.

" _Gajeel Redfox, I assume._ _This is Agent Coulson. How'd you hear about the Director?_ "

Gajeel snickered and stepped on the back of the agent he'd landed on, who was beginning to groan.

"Heh, trade secrets, old man. I keep my mouth shut."

Coulson was silent for a moment, then asked " _I'm impressed you were able to take down those two. They were two of my best. Though I'd be…unhappy if you killed them_."

"Oi, oi, keep your panties on, I don't kill people. I just wanted to know why ya were havin' me followed. And to find out who the hell this Director guy is."

Coulson was silent for another few moments, then countered back with " _Meet me at Doctor Selvig's lab, I'll fill you in there. We have a lot to talk about, it seems._ "

"Tch. Fine, have it your way. Damn geezer."

Gajeel heard a few suppressed snickers in the backround before the call shut off. He dug the little thing out of his ear and tossed it to the side, stepping off of the agent.

"Sorry boys, got a date. Catch ya later."

. . .

On the distant world of Asgard, Heimdall stood, frozen within a block of ice. Two Jotuns guarded him, their crimson eyes dull with boredom. Evidently, watching a frozen Asgardian was not what they had in mind when they signed onto this raid.

While outside, everything appeared tranquil, within the ice, it was anything but. Heimdall could hear the shouts of Thor, even through the ice. He strained as hard as he could, his mouth open in a silent scream.

" _Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!_ "

The ice cracked. A bare splinter marred the Guardian's prison, but the imperfection spread, slowly at first, then swifter, until the frozen figure of Heimdall snapped into action. Ice sloughing off of his body in waves, he swung his claymore, catching the first Jotun off guard and relieving him off his head. He parried the second Jotun's blade and whacked him in the face with his hilt before cleaving him in twain.

Taking but a spare moment to regain his strength, Heimdall limped to the Bifrost and inserted his sword into the control pedestal. The giant spherical machine began to power up, rainbow coloured lights dancing along the boundaries of the room.

. . .

Erza felt the wrenching feeling of travelling at a great speed. She forced open her eyes and beheld what she could only assume was the Bifrost. Multicolored light danced and swirled around her as she rocketed towards her destination, whole galaxies passing by outside of the Rainbow Road. Sif clutched her closely to her side, not letting the Fairy Queen falter or fall behind. That Earth woman whose name she could not recall was with Thor (much to the disappointment of Fandral).

Erza shivered, pain consuming her body once more as the Ethernano coursed through her system. The worst was over, or at least she hoped; the pain was bearable and she could breathe. For the moment at least.

And then they were there, stumbling through into a chamber that reminded her, unpleasantly, of parts of the Tower of Heaven. A large dark skinned man in golden armour was kneeling on the dais in the center of the room, patches of frost covering his armour.

Thor immediately marched over to the man and crouched down to his level.

"Heimdall? Are you well?"

The man, Heimdall, shook his head and heaved himself up.

"I will live. You must head to the Palace, Loki makes his move even as we speak. Go."

Thor nodded, glancing back towards Erza, the agent, and his companions.

"Find a healer. Take care of Lady Erza and Agent Fleming. I will return."

With a twirl of Mjolnir, Thor vanished, racing at breakneck speed down the crystalline road.

Volstagg grunted, rolling his eyes.

"Always has ta play the hero, doesn't he."

"Quiet. Fandral, get us a skiff. She's in no condition to ride, and Heimdall is hurt as well." ordered Sif. She adjusted her grip on Erza, trying to give her more support.

Fandral complied, hailing down a passing Asgardian skiff while the six of them followed.

"You know," remarked Fandral as they clambered into the small vessel "you're remarkably chummy with that Midgardian for someone who wanted to rip her intestines out not an hour past."

Sif glared at Fandral, who wilted under her gaze.

"I did not want to do anything of the sort. I simply had my doubts about her claims of being a great warrior. Having seen her in action, I seek to redeem myself for my offense. And she is no Midgardian; Thor said so himself. She is from a realm beyond Heimdall's sight."  
The Warriors Three glanced to each other before lapsing into silence. Sif held onto Erza as another fit plagued her.

. . .

Within Odin's chambers, the Frost Giant Laufey stood over the All-Father, a blade of ice formed in his hand.

"It's said you can still see and hear what transpires around you, even in this state. I hope it's true, so that you may know your death came by the hand of Laufey."

Raising his blade, the Frost Giant's face fixed into a rictus grin.

A blast of energy erupted from behind Laufey, boring a hole through his chest. The giant let out a wet gurgle before sliding to the side.

"And your death came by the son of Odin."

Loki lowered the spear, Gungnir, with a simpering smile on his face. Everything had gone according to plan…well, almost everything. His brother and that Midgardian wench had quite unexpectedly dismantled the Destroyer. Still, with Heimdall frozen, there was no way they were getting back—

"Loki!"

Ah, he'd spoken too soon.

"Found your way back already?"

Thor snarled at him, Mjolnir raised.

"I am in no mood for this, brother. Surrender. Now."

Loki raised an eyebrow, considered lying, then shrugged and shot Thor point blank with Gungnir. His brother flew out of sight, crashing through several walls before finally settling in a courtyard.

"I'd really rather not. I have a planet to destroy."

. . .

As the skiff flew nearer to the city proper, Fandral tried to strike up a conversation with the only female on the craft he had any chance with.

"So, my dear, what do you think of your first time in Asgard?"

Agent Fleming stopped her wide eyed, 360 degree observation to rest on Fandral.

"Its…spectacular. I've never seen anything like it."

Fandral smiled winningly and scootched closer.

"That so? Why don't I show you more of it then? I'm…intimately familiar with the place, you know."

The woman eyed him critically before saying "I don't do guys."

Fandral frowned, confused, before his eyes widened, not noticing the small grin on Heimdall's face.

"Oh…OH. Right. Uh…never mind then."

Sif snorted at Fandral's plight, before glancing down at the rainbow road that they were passing over. She cursed upon seeing a familiar reindeer helmet passing beneath them.

"Loki!"

The Warriors Three leaned down to see the current Lord of Asgard galloping towards the Bifrost. Sif gritted her teeth and said "Heimdall? Are you well enough to get the Lady Erza to the healers by yourself?"

"I still have enough strength left for that. Stop Loki."

Sif nodded in confirmation and lept from the skiff, the Warriors Three following closely behind. Sif bared her teeth. It was a good day for a fight.

The four of them landed a dozen meters in front of Loki, the spear wielding Asgardian reigning in his steed. He bared his teeth in a vicious grin, Gungnir pointed at them.

"If it isn't my brother's little pets and his slut."

Volstagg growled at Loki, his axe hefted and ready. Hogun's scowl was even deeper than usual, while Fandral himself wore a grave expression. Sif's face was contorted with hate, her eyes blazing as she glared at Loki.

"We trusted you! Even after all your pranks over the years, Thor always stood by your side! You betrayed us, and now you have _nothing_ but the sword which I will gladly give you _right_ _in your traitorous chest!_ "

Loki sighed and rolled his eyes, every inch the bored villain.

"So melodramatic, Sif. You really need to control that temper of yours."

Hogun stepped forwards, ignoring his companions growls that were directed towards Loki.

"You cannot win. Surrender."

Loki appeared to consider it for a moment before shooting directly at Hogun, though the man of Vanaheim had managed to roll out of the way.

"No, I don't think I will. Would you mind dying instead?"

Sif charged towards Loki and sprung at him, seeking to knock him off of his horse. He smacked her away with the back of the staff, though, and spurred his steed forwards. Volstagg stood in his way and braced himself against the horse, using his formidable strength to slow the beast down to a crawl. Meanwhile, Fandral approached from Loki's left and stabbed him in the gut with his blade; his eyes widened when Loki vanished as soon as the blade touched him.

"An illusion! He can't be far!"

Even as the words exited Fandral's mouth, Sif saw a flicker of movement and blocked the downwards swipe of Gungnir. She fought against Loki's strength, kicking at his legs to make him relinquish his advance.

"Come come, you should know better."

Loki jumped back, and a score of Lokis appeared. They circled the group of four, chuckling to themselves.

"Care to find out which one is the real me?"

Before any of them could answer, a shockwave rattled through the air, the force of it throwing everyone present back. All of the Lokis save one vanished. At the epicenter of the shockwave, Thor rose, his eyes fixed on the one true Loki. Without a word, the Crown Prince of Asgard went and set Mjolnir upon Loki's chest, then kicked Gungnir away.

"I told you brother. No more games."

. . .

"I wasn't sure you'd come."

Gajeel scowled at the balding man in front of him sitting tranquilly in a plastic chair. He shrugged and pulled up another chair.

"I want some answers. You've got em. 'Sides, not like I have anywhere better to be."

Coulson gave Gajeel a tight smile, his fingers threaded together.

"Right. How does a question for a question sound?"

Gajeel grunted his assent and crossed his arms, intent to maintain an intimidating demeanor. Negotiations always went more smoothly when the other guy was at least a little piss-scared. It made them more likely to take the whole thing seriously. Which was why Coulson's utterly neutral scent was annoying Gajeel.

"Why don't you go first. I'm sure you have a lot on your mind."

Gajeel snorted expressively and brought out a screw he'd found while wandering around in town to ambush his stalkers. He bit into it and munched on the metal, sniffing at the air. He'd finally managed to smell an emotion coming off of the guy, though curiosity wasn't _exactly_ what he was going for.

"So," said Gajeel through his mouthful of metal, "Who is the Director? And what is it that you people do, eh?"

"Good first question, straight to the point. I work for the Director, who is the head of SHIELD. It stands for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Basically, we investigate and take care of anything that is deemed…unusual and dangerous. Like you, for example."

Gajeel smiled at that, his canines glinting as his ego boosted a little bit.

"Heh, yeah. You didn't tell me the Director's name, though."

Coulson's face remained impassive.

"And I won't, unless it's deemed that I need to. Where do you come from?"

Frowning, Gajeel studied Coulson's face. If he was what he said he was…well, this SHIELD sounded like some sort of big government thing, like the Magic Council back home. Not that he was fond of the Magic Council, but the old geezers in robes had their uses. If SHIELD did work with the unusual, they might know a way to send him home. And they would probably be able to find Erza easier. Not that he really cared if they found Erza, he just…didn't want to leave a guild mate out there alone. Even if it was a shit hole of a guild, it was still _his_ guild, and he'd be damned if he didn't fulfill the minimum of loyalty to his guild mates.

Making up his mind, Gajeel returned his attention to Coulson and said "Long way from here. I come from a country called Fiore, the town of Magnolia. The way the doc was talkin'…eh, somethin' about another universe or some such. I dunno. Not my problem to figure it out."

Gajeel barely suppressed the smirk that arose at the smell of shock coming off of Coulson. It didn't show on his face and the scent passed in an instant, but the truth was hard to hide from a Dragon Slayer.

"So…well…that's interesting. Your turn."

"Mmm. Do you know where Erza is?"

Coulson raised an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name. Red hair, brown eyes, wears a breastplate?"

"That'd be the one. Where is she?"

"Courtenay, Canada, at the moment."

"Uh…where is that?"

Coulson raised another eyebrow.

"I can find you a map if you'd like."

Gajeel rolled his shoulder in a 'whatever' gesture.

"What is that symbol on your arm?"

Gajeel unconsciously ran a hand over his right shoulder where his Phantom Lord mark used to be before he realized what Coulson was referring to and corrected his mistake. He pointed towards the Fairy Tail mark on his left shoulder."

"This?"

Coulson nodded in the affirmative.

"It's my Fairy Tail mark. Fairy Tail is the guild I'm in."

"Guild?"

"Yeah, it's a—"

And then the wall of the lab exploded outwards, sharp bits of stone raining down on the two men. Gajeel rolled away, snarling, his eyes alighting on a certain female figure wreathed in harsh blue light.

"Jane?"

* * *

 **Wohoo, I finished a chapter! And there were more fights, and then there will be even more fights after that, woohoo!**

 **In all honesty though, we're getting to the end of the introduction. Gajeel and Erza are both integrating nicely into their little environments and the Thor movie arc is almost over. Then we'll have a five to seven chapter interim to establish some more things, and we'll move on to the inevitable team up of Avengers and awesomeness.**

 **Leave a follow, favorite, or review if you'd like, or even a comment if you're so inclined. I'm always pumped for people to read my work and tell me what they think. With your guys' support, I wanna make this the best FT/Avengers fic ever!**

 **Next chapter: Gajeel vs. Jane, secrets will be revealed, and a certain spy will appear. Peace.**


	7. Chapter 7: Strange Encounters II

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Again, I apologize for the month and a half long wait. I've been having…problems.**

 **I've also started another fic, which didn't help my time any. RWBY is an amazing show and deserves all of the fanfiction! Especially crossovers. It's on my profile if you're interested.**

 **Onwards and upwards to the top!**

* * *

"Jane?"

Gajeel looked at the woman who was standing in the newly made entrance to the lab, mind running furiously while his body stayed still; though to be fair, mostly he was just repeating ' _shit-fuck-shit-damn-motherfucker_ ' over and over in his head. After a few seconds though, Gajeel tamped down on his panic and set his jaw. He was the Iron Dragon Slayer, damn it all! Magic or no magic, he'd never back down like some sissy weakling.

"Jane? Oi…Strawberry girl? What the hell are you doin'?"

Her head twisted towards him so quickly that Gajeel heard the subtle _snap_ of her neck muscles as they strained under the tension. Jane's pupils were dilated to an absurd level; what little colour was visible burned a caustic blue, the shade matching her raised veins.

" **Neeee—neeeeed…more. Want more. More. More. NEED MORE."**

Gajeel winced at the raspy _wrongness_ of Jane's voice. He spotted Coulson out of the corner of his eye; the geezer had a hand on his gun, though he'd had the good sense not to draw it…yet, anyways. Gajeel shook his head minutely, and Coulson nodded back in the same manner. Good; Gajeel didn't want to think about what a Jane hopped up on Ethernano would do to an ordinary human.

Oh… _ssssshit_. Jane must have gotten into the crystals. The ones in the safe…and they'd left Jane alone after she'd been exposed. What the hell had he been thinking? Gajeel cursed under his breath. He really wished he knew more about Ethernano right now. It had never seemed relevant before, and now, his lack of knowledge had created this fucking mess.

Holding his hands out in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner, Gajeel took a step forwards. He really didn't want to have to fight her. Especially not while he was basically fucking helpless.

"Let's just…take a minute, a'right? We can go back to the lab and…well…uh….umm. We'll get ya some nice, crunchy shards. Howzat sound, eh?"

One of Jane's eyes twitching violently was his only response.

" _ **Liar.**_ **"**

Gajeel barely managed to dive out of the way of the strike that Jane aimed at his head. The blow shattered the concrete where he'd been standing, Jane's foot buried up to the ankle in ruined pavement.

Gajeel leapt back, settling into a defensive stance.

"Fuckin' hell. Really hopin' I could avoid this."

Gajeel really missed Earthland right about now.

. . .

Thor loomed over his brother, a rather dissatisfied frown on his face. Loki sat in chains, his hands bound and his power sealed away with a runic collar that blocked his ability to use magic…or something of that nature. Magic wasn't Thor's area, exactly.

"Thor!"

Turning, Thor beheld his mother Frigga running towards him. He let a wide, genuine smile burst across his face, the first since he left Midgard, and embraced Frigga fully.

"Mother! It does my heart good to see you again."

His mother smiled "And you, my son. I heard news of your return and came as fast as I could. It is good to see you again, Thor. Your father has missed you. I…also heard of your brother's…discrepancies." Frigga finished with a resigned look as she broke away.

"Father still sleeps, yes?"

"He does."

Thor nodded once and grasped his mother's arm, his stormy eyes meeting hers.

"Then I am entrusting Loki to your care. I may have regained my power, but Father has yet to officially welcome me back as the crown prince. Twould be best if you took over, in this strange time, to keep the peace until Father awakens."

Frigga nodded slowly, giving Thor a once over with a critical eye.

"If that is what you wish, my son…though I must say…you are not the same boastful boy I knew but three days past. You've changed. The Thor I once knew would have leapt at the chance to rule…what in the name of the Nine Realms happened on Midgard?"

Thor shrugged, the movement similar to a massive wave cresting.

"Oh, nothing much, I suppose," said Thor with a playful grin, "I simply met a warrior who bested me in single combat and became her companion for my time among the mortals. She is a rather interesting individual; there is much that I learned from her, even in so short a time."

Frigga's eyebrows rose speculatively.

"A woman, you say? Who bested _you_? Hmph…and when do I meet the mysterious lady who can vanquish the God of Thunder?"

Thor chuckled deep in his throat and waved his hand as if to brush the question away.

"In the interest of fairness, we were both merely mortals at the time. Bereft of our powers and on equal footing, as it were."

"Both?" Frigga's brows knitted together. "She is one of the Aesir? Why was another Asgardian on Midgard?"

Thor shook his head and said "No mother. She is no Asgardian."

Frigga's eyebrows rose again.

"One of the other Sky Gods then? An Olympian, or perhaps an Amazon? Or is she—"

Thor raised a hand again to halt his mother's musings.

"Peace mother, she is none of those. That is part of why I find her so intriguing. She claims to be from a previously unknown realm, from beyond Heimdall's sight."

Frigga was silent at the revelation, contemplating the information.

"And she has shown evidence of this?"

"Yes. While I trust her enough on her word alone, during the battle with the Destroyer, I saw her…it was unlike anything I'd ever seen. A strange magic that allowed her to summon powerful weapons from the air itself; even though the display lasted but a brief time, it was enough to convince me. And apparently Sif as well. But to answer your question from before…I believe she is being tended to by the healers at the present time. Heimdall escorted her to receive treatment, along with himself."

Frigga nodded, clearly wanting to ask more questions but holding herself back. There would be time for such things later. For now, there were more important matters to attend to.

"Very well then. Why don't you go to her; I will be busy for some time cleaning up your brother's mess…Odin will desire words with Loki when he awakens."

Thor patted his mother on the shoulder and departed. Frigga stared after him, her lip curled up wistfully. She whispered quietly to herself "He's growing up…took him long enough. Now, there's only the matter of the other one."

. . .

As he felt the slivers of concrete imbedded in his arm shift painfully, Gajeel thought that he could at least be thankful for one thing; Jane was nowhere near as fast or strong as the weretiger had been.

Which was a very good thing for him, in his opinion. He'd broken ribs fighting that fucking thing, and he'd still had access to his magic at the time; he didn't want to think about what it could do to him now.

It only made sense, he supposed as he backpedalled away from another explosion of violent force. Jane hadn't been exposed for long, three days tops if her previous exposure was counted. The tiger could've been around that chunk of Ethernano for _weeks_.

Still, even with that, Jane wasn't exactly slow, Gajeel thought as he diverted an axe chop from the scientist on magical steroids. He'd been forced to play defensive so far, trying to anticipate her moves and dodge them. It was pissing him off that he couldn't just break out the scales and take her down. Meh…fucking alternative universe that didn't have Ethernano like a goddamn natural universe should.

Gajeel grunted as he rolled over the top of a sedan that was parked near to the lab; the screech of abused metal sounded behind him as he landed, turning in time to see Jane's arms buried in the side of the car. Buried…

Heh…idea. Gajeel smirked to himself; he beat Salamander in the witty idea department anyday. Not that it was that hard…most of Salamander's strategies involved hitting something until it stopped trying to hit back. Not that Gajeel didn't like that strategy as well, it was just that—

Gajeel was brought abruptly out of his thoughts as a car door flew past him and buried itself in an unfortunate tree.

"Shit…focus, ya idjit."

Gajeel turned heel and began running, arms pumping as he scanned the street. He hoped he could find what he was looking for in a town this small.

Gajeel's ears twitched and he ducked, the foot that had been aiming to take off his head merely grazing his hair. Damn, she was persistent.

"Oi, Strawberry Girl, would ya lay off for a minute, I'm tryna help ya!"

" **Don't need help**!"

"Tch, sure, and I'm a fucking Wizard Saint. Yer glowing blue, Jane. It ain't exactly healthy. Or natura— _ACK_ " Gajeel bit back a yelp as a fist grazed his side. This wasn't getting anywhere, he needed a—

A large yellow…car like thing…what'd the old guy call it again? A truck…a truck was parked a block down, the words 'Passmore Quick Hardening Cement' emblazoned in bold black letters on the side.

Perfect.

Gajeel took off running again, moving in a full out dash until he was immediately in front of the cement truck. He turned, noting Jane standing only a few meters away, readying for another attack. With a cocky smirk plastered on his face, Gajeel winked at Jane and gave her a come hither gesture.

"Ya want some Ethernano? Gonna have to go through me first, Strawberry Girl."

Jane screeched and lunged at Gajeel, her Ethernano infused fists bearing down on him. In a move that would've made his old man proud, Gajeel fluidly spun out of the way just in time and let Jane bury her arms in the truck. Jane ripped her arms free from the contents of the truck with a wet _splorch_ and the fight continued.

Gajeel stayed one step ahead of the berserking Jane, bounding around as he baited her into opening up more and more holes in the truck. Soon, liquid concrete was spilling everywhere, and Jane was covered in it. And just as he planned, it was slowing her down. Her fists were sealed close, and her movements became sluggish as her feet became stuck to the ground, forcing her to rip them out. After a solid nine minutes of the cat and mouse game that they'd been playing, Gajeel lunged forwards while she was temporarily buried and delivered his first and only attack against Jane; a brutal strike straight to the jaw, the force of his arm behind it as he struck upwards with his palm.

Jane landed on her back, out cold, and Gajeel shook his hand out. Damn it; her skin was like solid steel. Fucking Ethernano.

"Well…I have to say I'm impressed."

Gajeel released a heavy groan, not even turning around to see the new arrival.

"Standing around watching the show, eh, Agent Coulson? Or should I call you Baldy? Old man and geezer have already been taken, by the way, so yer not getting those."

Gajeel heard someone behind Coulson snicker, followed by Coulson's sigh.

"Just Agent Coulson will be fine."

"Baldy it is. Ya coulda helped out, ya know."

Gajeel turned and gave the other man a tired and mildly unfriendly sneer. Coulson simply replied with a small, tight smile that seemed to say 'You had it handled'. Gajeel snorted and brushed some hardening material off of his arms.

"So…what now, hnn? Whatcha gonna do with Strawbe—err, Jane."

Coulson scratched his chin, studying the demolished cement truck and the unmoving body of Jane Foster.

"Containment. And then interrogation, for both parties. If you'll come with me, Mr. Redfox, we can get you cleaned up; I have more questions that I'd like you to answer."

Gajeel rolled his eyes but followed anyways. He was too damn tired for another fight.

"Fine, but I wanna long, hot bath, not just a broom or some shit like that. And some iron too; as close to pure as ya can get it, I'm fucking hungry."

. . .

"Milady? Milady Scarlet?"

Erza groaned, trying desperately to remember where she was. There had been the wormhole, then that forest…Thor…Banner…the walk to the town of Courtenay…that giant metal golem that she'd fought after eating Ethernano. And then…

"Milady Scarlet, Prince Thor is here to see you, are you awake?"

…and then they'd travelled to Thor's home. Asgard.

Erza opened her eyes, letting herself adjust to the light. She was in a bed that was positioned against the wall of the room she was in. A rather opulent room; floors of solid marble, onyx pillars, and golden curtains that floated in the light breeze that was coming from the terrace. And beyond that terrace…

Erza felt her throat hitch. Beyond the walls of the room was a magnificent city, set against a night sky far more vibrant than any she'd ever known. A city…a vision, it seemed more like; spires of white and gold that shined in the midday light, an iridescent road cutting through the city and running over the deep blue waters of an alien sea. And the sky…swirls of verdant green and slashes of crimson marked the sky, a hoard of brightly shining stars placed within. It was utterly stunning.

"Lady Erza?"

Thor entered her field of view, a concerned look on his face.

"Are you well?"

Erza tore her gaze away from the amazing tapestry outside in favor of her godly companion. She gave him as strong a smile as she could muster.

"I am. At least, well enough to think clearly. I presume this was the work of your countrymen?"

Thor nodded affirmatively and said "The healers of Asgard are among the best in all the Realms, and you are a friend and companion of mine. They were right to treat you as they would me. They removed as much of that vile substance as they could, and with rest, your full strength will return."

Erza inclined her head and turned her attention back to the terrace.

"So…this is Asgard."

"Indeed."

"It's beautiful."

"It is."

Erza breathed in deeply, savoring the restful atmosphere after the trials of the past few hours.

"What happened with your brother?"

Thor leaned back into a waiting chair and rested his hands on his knees, a rumbling sound emanating from his chest.

"I defeated him, with the help of Sif and the Warriors Three. My father is yet claimed by the Odinsleep. Until he wakens, I do not feel it right to claim the title of Crown Prince. Thus, my mother, Frigga, is taking over as ruler of Asgard until he is awakened. She is seeing to Loki's imprisonment, even as we speak."

Erza let out a relieved breath; the current crisis was over. Among Thor's people, whom she could trust (hopefully), she could afford to relax and ponder. Erza saw a winged vehicle swing by outside of the window. In a way, Asgard reminded her of home more than Midgard—Earth—had. She saw little hints of magic in every aspect of Asgardian daily life, from the impossible, smooth, golden architecture to the vehicles that hummed and levitated in a way that the cars of Earth had not. It wasn't the same…but it was enough.

"Thor…I asked once before, but…do you think your people can really find a way home for me?"

Thor's countenance turned dour, and he rested his chin on his hands, saying "I know not whether such is possible or not, Lady Erza. My people know many secrets, many magics that have long been forgotten to the other realms. Yet…while I am no mage, this is something we have never encountered. _You_ are something we have never encountered. Long have I thought that Heimdall saw all, and now I know that he does not. It is…unprecedented…and somewhat concerning. So…I will not lie to you, Lady Erza; I do not know if there exists a way home for you…but I swear, on my life and on my honour that I will search for the rest of my days, if that is what it takes."

Erza graced Thor with a small, conflicted smile, and said "Then that shall suffice for now. I am sure that with the God of Thunder on my side, it will not be long until I return to Earthland with the story of a lifetime. Thank you, Thor."

Thor returned Erza's smile and turned to gaze out of onto Asgard as well.

"When you are well enough, I would take you on a tour of the city, if you would have it. There are many sights in Asgard that simply must be seen."

"I would like that."

. . .

Gajeel stretched, popping his joints and letting out a deeply satisfied groan. Once he'd figured out how to work the bath, he'd stewed for nearly twenty minutes, letting the tension from the fight bleed away. It felt fucking amazing to relax every once in awhile. Even fucking strange alternative universes had their upsides, apparently.

The door to the containment room opened, and a redheaded woman walked in. Huh…he'd been expecting Coulson. Ah well.

The woman sat down in a cheap aluminum chair and set down a bar of iron and a glass of water, then folded her arms over her chest, seeming content to observe him. Gajeel returned the favor. She was a pretty little thing; coiled muscles strained against the skin tight black jumpsuit she was dressed in, the darkness of the material contrasting with the vivid shade of her hair. It was nearly the same shade as Titania's hair. Momentarily, Gajeel wondered how Erza was doing in this new world; she was probably off on some island paradise doing whatever scary chicks did in their spare time. Actually, now that he thought about it, this chick had the same look in her eyes as Erza. Gajeel shivered a bit. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't someone to be underestimated—she was dangerous, and she knew it. Kinda hot, actually.

"So.", the woman finally said, her eyes still studying Gajeel, "Gajeel Redfox. Welcome to Earth. Your iron, as ordered."

Gajeel snorted and pulled up an identical chair to the one the woman was sitting in and plopped into it. He grabbed the bar and began nibbling on it, breaking of flaked and washing them down with the water provided

"Geehee. Lovin' the hospitality so far. Do ye have a name, or should I come up with one for ye?"

The woman's brow quirked and she shrugged.

"I've gone by many names, but you can call me Natasha. Or Black Widow, if you'd rather that. What about you?"

"If ya don't wanna call me by my name, then Black Steel's fine. My old Phantom Lord title."

Natasha's other brow rose as well.

"Phantom Lord? Does this have anything to do with the…Fairy Tail Guild, which Coulson mentioned in his report?"

Gajeel nodded and rolled his neck, popping several more vertebrae. He set the bar down on the table, a large indent in it already.

"I used to be a member of Phantom Lord. Master Jose found me, bout two years after my old man disappeared; I was with em for four years, right up until the guild war."

"Guild war?"

Gajeel grunted and continued "A war between mage guilds. They're kinda illegal, long as the guilds are officially registered with the Magic Council and all. Not that Jose cared."

Natasha's face was carefully neutral, and she gestured for him to go on.

"I was the one Jose sent ta rile up the Fairies. He had a…eh, I dunno what it was about, but he had a grudge the size of a mountain. He said it was cuz Fairy Tail was getting' uppity, tryin' ta be the strongest Guild an' all that, but I dunno…hmph. Anyways…it didn't matter to me, not back then. He asked, so I left to Magnolia and demolished the Guild Hall of the Fairies. Nice piece of work, that."

Damn, this Natasha chick had a good handle on her. Gajeel hadn't smelled anything off of her yet beyond her neutral scent. She was even tougher to crack than Baldy.

"But…as it turned out, Makarov didn't care that I'd demolished the Guild Hall. When I asked him about it after the war, he said it was just a building, that it hadn't been worth it to get into a fight. And y'know…I can see where he was comin' from."

Gajeel crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"I still had my orders though, so I…took the initiative. I followed some a the mages home and beat the shit out of em, nailed all three of em to the tree in the center of town. That…got their attention pretty damn fast. Fairy Tail came calling after that and retaliated. A lot of shit happened, and Phantom Lord was destroyed completely by the Fairies."

Gajeel turned his gaze fully on Natasha and found an unidentified emotion present on her previously stoic face.

"I was livin' in the scrap heap that used to be the Phantom Guild Hall when Makarov came and found me. He…offered me a home. And a job. He said I could be part of his family…and he also warned me that if I ever hurt a Fairy again, he'd destroy me."

Natasha nodded once and furrowed her brow, thinking.

"Interesting story. So what…you're trying to earn your way to redemption?"

Gajeel snorted loudly and frowned, his long canines glinting.

"Guess so. Something like that."

Natasha nodded again and stood up, smoothing out a few creases in her jumpsuit. Her lips quirked upwards into a minute smile as she regarded Gajeel.

"Alright. That's all the questions I have for now. Thank you for your time, Mister Redfox."

The redhead turned and exited the room. Gajeel watched her leave, managing to convince himself that he was not ogling her ass as she closed the door behind her. He was just…studying her belt. Yeah.

Shaking himself, Gajeel propped his feet up on the chair Natasha had vacated and leaned back.

He thought over the encounter. She really was a fine piece; dangerous, yeah, but that didn't mean too much to him anyways. And as for her questions…

Wait…Gajeel sat up. She'd never really asked him anything beyond having him elaborate on various things that he mentioned. Why had he done that? He normally didn't have such a loose lip. Was he just tired from the day, or did they do something to him?

Eh, whatever. He didn't really care at the moment. He picked his lunch up and resumed eating.

. . .

Frigga rested her head in her hands as she leaned on the balcony of a terrace that overlooked Asgard. Her husband had yet to awaken from his slumber, and the task of imprisoning Loki had fallen to her. It had been…unpleasant, to say the least. His silver tongue could just as easily have been made of mercury, for all the poison it spouted. The boy had always been sensitive, different; she'd tried so hard to give him the love that he needed. She knew her husband; Odin was a harsh father at times, and her Loki could expect an even greater punishment than Thor's.

Besides Loki, there was the matter of this…Erza. Frigga was a very old woman, comparatively. She knew the signs of infatuation when she saw them. Her oldest was interested in the outworlder in a more than scholarly manner, or she was a blind woman. She'd have to meet with the girl soon…have a talk with her about her relationship to her son.

"Good evening."

A dagger sprang into Frigga's hand as quick as thought, the blade pointed towards the person who had somehow managed to sneak up on her…something that was nearly impossible to do.

"Who, or what are you, to move so stealthily as to escape the notice of Frigga of Asgard?"

The man cocked his head to the side, studying her. And what a strangely dressed man he was; a tattered cloak that was a blue so dark it appeared almost to be black covered his shoulders while a green cloth concealed his face, a blue bandanna over his hair so that only a pair of hard, brown eyes could be seen. Seven staves were strapped to his back, all of them different from the other, while his legs were wrapped in bandages. His cloak was joined together by a golden amulet that was shaped like a closed eye, arcane symbols adorning the border.

When no answer came, Frigga stepped closer, holding the dagger to his throat.

"How did you get past the guards, intruder?"

The stranger continued staring at her for several seconds before speaking, his voice soothing and melodic, if somewhat muffled.

"I merely put them to sleep. I am here on order of my master. He is known to your husband from a time long ago."

Frigga blinked, confused, though the dagger stayed where it was.

"Who?"

"He goes by many names, though you would know him as the Ancient One."

The dagger dropped, clattering to the floor.

"Who _are_ you?"

"You may call me Mystogan."

* * *

 **Betcha didn't see that one coming. Yes sir-y, I'm mixing in elements of Doctor Strange. Well, technically I already have; remember that guy that bumped into Darcy a few chapters ago?**

 **And yes, say hello to Mystogan. I hated the Edolas arc and how they made one of the most potentially interesting and powerful mages in Fairy Tail a lame character. I will be fixing this by giving him a Marvel backstory.**

 **I won't give away too much, but I do have very big plans for this story, and the mages of Earth 616 will be playing an important role.**

 **As always, drop a favorite, follow, or review if you liked my story, and I will see you guys on the other side.**

 **Next Chapter: A very important meeting, Odin awakens, and Gajeel causes some trouble.**


	8. Chapter 8: The End of the Beginning

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 ***sigh* I'm a horrible person, I know, alright? I'm sorry that this update took so long. To be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing with my life right now.**

 **Also, wow, over 100 followers. Thank you guys so much for your continued interest in this story!**

 **Just so that people do not get confused, this is not canon, Earthland Mystogan. Keep that in mind.**

* * *

Frigga paced back and forth on the balcony, her arms crossed as she pondered everything she had heard.

"So…my son was telling the truth after all. Intriguing. Then the Lady Erza _is_ indeed from a realm beyond the Nine…and you say that you are the liaison to it?"

Mystogan nodded, his bandanna creasing at the motion. Frigga found him frustratingly difficult to read, seeing as she all she had to work with was a pair of inscrutable brown eyes.

"Indeed. For the past seven years, I have been the representative of the Sorcerer Supreme in Earthland, watching the ways of that dimension. The exact nature of some of my assignments must remain confidential, but I can tell you that I was accepted into the same guild that Erza was, and that I served as a mage of Fairy Tail for five years while also performing my duties to the Ancient One. Fortunately for me, Master Makarov was most accommodating when I told him of my purpose in Earthland."

Frigga frowned slightly.

"Master Makarov is the leader of this…Fairy Tail?"

Mystogan nodded again, his head dipping down while saying "Yes. Makarov Dreyar is the Third Guild Master of Fairy Tail. He is a powerful mage, for his world, at least, and one whom I respect greatly."

Frigga nodded slowly, finally sheathing her dagger fully.

"Very well…introductions have been made, formalities have been observed, now _why_ are you _here_? I may have never met the Ancient One in person, but his power in the mystic arts is legendary in all the realms. What has possessed an agent of the Sanctum Sanctorum to come to my city?"

Mystogan studied the Queen of Asgard silently before commenting "I'll admit that it was a bit abrupt, but circumstances out of my control have brought me to your door. There is…a clairvoyant, who has worked with certain members of my order in the past. Madame Web, as she calls herself, contacted the Ancient One in a dream and spoke to him; _The threads of fate are twisting_ , she told my Master. _Two from a lost realm have re-entered the greater cosmos, and the web has shifted_. _The Knight and the Dragon must not fall, for if they do, madness will consume all._ It is rather foreboding…and not very specific either, but I'm sure you know the dangers of ignoring a seer."

Frigga inclined her head grimly. Seers were rare in every realm, but by Yggdrasil, they were individuals to listen to. That one such being would contact the Ancient One directly only added to the perceived importance of the issue at hand.

"The Sorcerer Supreme agreed that the situation was urgent, thus, I am here to see Erza while a colleague of mine keeps an eye on the Dragon Slayer still on Midgard. Please, I need to speak to Erza; the future has _changed_ , Lady Frigga, and the mages from Earthland are at the center of that change. I intend to set them on their path, to ensure that they are ready when the time comes."

Frigga regarded the man before her and sighed, waving her hand.

"Very well, off with you. You have my permission to visit her. I should warn you though, my son seems quite protective of her."

Mystogan bowed at the waist, his mood unreadable behind the bandanna.

"I will take that piece of advice under consideration. Thank you for your time, Lady Frigga."

The man left as quickly as he had come, there one moment and gone the next with nary a flap of cloth to herald his sudden absence.

Frigga shook her head, still trying to fully comprehend everything that the strange man had said. So the Sorcerer Supreme was getting involved…it was truly a momentous event; the old mystic usually stayed out of the conflicts of the greater universe unless something big was happening. And something big was indeed coming; she could feel it in the air itself, a subtle darkness just beyond the edge of the horizon.

Frigga just hoped that they were ready for the storm that was about to break.

. . .

"And here we have the finest forge in all of Asgard, The Golden Shield-Brothers, where thirty of the greatest smiths of Asgard create fine arms and armour. While their skill may not be as great as the dwarves of Nidavellir…" Thor abruptly stopped talking before he leaned down and whispered "Not that you should let them hear you say that…Fandral was drunk once and commented on that…now they won't let him buy so much as a horseshoe." Erza snorted in amusement. Thor led her forward and gestured around him, his stormy blue eyes sincere as he pointed out Asgardians that he knew.

Erza grinned warmly at her guide, before shifting her attention to the energetic scene around her. Several dozen smiths were working the forge, some heating and beating various metals into armour, while others tempered blades in hot oil before grinding out any imperfections in the body. The sound of hammers ringing and fires roaring filled her ears, and Erza felt a certain nostalgia well up within her. Given the number of blades, spears, hammers, axes, and other weapons she possessed, she had been to many a forge and blacksmith over the years. Few, if any, could compare to this one, though Erza supposed it was only natural; after all, this was the 'realm of the gods'.

"It's spectacular, Thor. Thank you for showing me to this place. Though, I must confess I would like to do more than simply look; I have no money, but do you suppose—"

Thor chuckled, the sound a pleasing rumble that reverberated around the busy square.

"Good Lady Erza, you have been a stout and brave companion of mine, and I hold you as a friend. Simply ask and you shall receive. I can only hope such a blade will be worthy of your hand."

Erza felt a small flutter in her stomach, though if it was due to Thor or the fact that she had free reign to receive an Asgardian made weapon, she knew not. Smiling somewhat sheepishly, Erza nodded. Thor nodded as well and hailed down one of the smiths.

"Blacksmith Sigmund, the good Lady here wishes for a weapon to be made. Would it be acceptable to commission one?"

The ginger-haired smith in question looked at Thor, raising his eyebrows only a little at seeing the Crown Prince outside of his workplace, before turning his gaze onto Erza. He studied her for a long moment, taking in her Heart Kreuz armour, build, and stance with a professional eye.

"Aye. A warrior woman eh, like the Lady Sif. Ye've got a different look about ye though…how many weapons do ye know how to wield?"

Erza looked contemplative for a moment, before answering "I can wield several hundred different types of weapons proficiently, though I am most well acquainted with the sword and the spear. However, if the need calls for it, I can use an axe, hammer, bow, halberd, scythe and many others besides…truly, it is a question of what weapon I don't know how to use at this point."

The smith grunted and responded "So ye have options. Anything in particular ye be wantin'?"

Erza hummed in thought, before turning to Thor.

"I have more than enough swords and spears, but not very many hammers. Perhaps something like Mjolnir…but larger, and more rounded."

Sigmund guffawed. Erza raised a single, delicate red eyebrow.

"Is something amusing, sir blacksmith?"

The smith shook his head, his shoulders still shaking as he controlled his laughter.

"Begging yer pardon, good lady, but Mjolnir is a weapon almost without equal. Nayone but Thor himself and the King can lift it, least tha' I know of. An' ye want somethin' larger an' that?"

Erza's gaze sharpened, her eyebrow twitching dangerously.

"Are you implying that I'm not strong enough to wield such a weapon?"

The smith swallowed, his laughter forgotten as he experienced a sudden uneasiness. He waved his hands in front of him placatingly.

"O-of course ye are, milady. It's just, seein' as yer a waifish lass, I thought that ye weren't as…umm…" The smith trailed off as his impeding sense of doom increased even more. The crimson haired lady was exuding some sort of red mist that rose off of her skin; while before she looked like an adorable young lass (in his opinion), now she seemed to be closer to a vengeful goddess in form.

Thor, swallowing his own fear (not that he would ever admit to being scared of her; he had his pride as the God of Thunder after all), placed a hand on Erza's shoulder, and the mist subsided. Erza smiled wryly at Thor before turning a gimlet eye onto the trembling smith.

"I will let your comments go…this time. Know, however, that if you dishonor my strength again in such a way, that you will answer to me. Believe me…you will not enjoy that."

The smith bowed several times, apologizing profusely and promising to forge the perfect hammer for her to wield. Thor guided Erza away, his lips curled up into a teasing smile.

"I have not seen one of the proud smiths of Asgard cowed in such a manner in many a year. Perhaps…yes, not since Sif visited them for a sword centuries ago; when they laughed at her, she threatened to do some rather unpleasant things to them involving a pair of bellows and a red hot poker. She now has one of the finest Asgardian made blades ever created."

Erza laughed at that, her eyes shining with a certain vindictive satisfaction.

"Then I shall look forwards to their efforts. It is always a pleasure to wield a well made weapon, and I shall judge the quality of Asgardian craft off of this hammer. If it is not up to my standards…well…"

Erza's smile turned more than a little wicked before she shrugged.

"But enough of that. So…where to next, Thor?"

Thor scratched at his beard before one of the skiffs riding through the sky caught his eye.

"You have never gone skiff sailing, have you?"

At Erza's negative reply, Thor could not stop the wide grin that broke over his face.

"Come, we must find Fandral. He is the best skiff pilot I know, and one does not know excitement until they have ridden with Fandral."

. . .

Gajeel yawned as he sat in the interrogation room he'd been stuck in for hours, bored out of his mind. He'd been alone since that hot redhead had left. What the hell was her name again? Natalia or something like that. Gajeel propped his feet up on the plain table and stared at the ceiling. He supposed he should have expected this; shit, he'd sat through interrogations before. He was just so damn tired after the fight with Strawberry girl that he didn't care where Coulson took him, as long as Baldy gave him a snack as promised. Gajeel was starting to regret that.

The door banged open, startling Gajeel out of his thoughts. Standing in the doorway was a severely pissed looking man with dark skin, wearing a black trenchcoat, black shirt, and a black eyepatch.

The man stared at Gajeel for several seconds before saying "You have made my life very difficult these past few days, Mister Redfox."

Gajeel let his default sneer slide across his face, his arms crossed and his feet still on the table.

"And am I supposed to say I'm sorry or something? Don't give me that shit, _Director_ , you're the ones who've been chasing after me."

The Director narrowed his eye, his mouth a deep slash of suspicion and disapproval.

"How'd you know that?"

"You got that look in your eye, the one every big dog has in his domain. The look of a commander. Even if ya do dress like a pirate with a few choice fetishes."

A few thousand meters above North Dakota, a certain archer felt the sudden urge to break into laughter. Somewhere in the universe, someone had just zinged Director Fury with a vengeance.

The only outward sign of Fury's aggravation was a rapid twitch in his good eye as he walked forwards and rigidly sat down in the only other chair in the room. He glared at Gajeel for a few moments before leaning back with a sigh, his hands steepled.

"So. You're a big, bad interdimensional traveler. You got some magic powers or some shit, but you can't use them at the moment. So in a word, you're up shit creek without a paddle. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you cut open and get the boys down in R & D to learn what they can from your corpse."

Gajeel dropped his feet off of the table and leaned forwards, his red eyes full of wicked menace and steel.

"Cuz I'm not valuable chopped up into little bits, that's why. Cuz I'd take at least a dozen of your guys before they got me down, magic or not. And finally, cuz you're obviously not visiting me in my cell for that anyways, cue ball. If ya really wanted to chop me up, you coulda done it way before now. Hell, ya wouldn't be wasting your time tryin' ta intimidate me. So cut the shit and tell me why you're here; like I told Makarov, whaddya want, old man?"

Fury's scowl deepened, and Gajeel could hear the faint noise of teeth grinding.

"We got a call from…well, let's just say you've drawn the eyes of some very powerful and scary people, Mister _Dragon Slayer_. It isn't every day that people like you show up, and usually when they do, they go on a rampage or some shit like that. Your own arrival hasn't exactly been as smooth as I would've liked. So…I gotta decide whether or not you're worth the trouble to keep around, or if I should just turn you over to the wolves. I can, however, guarantee you that SHIELD is probably the best place for…whatever it is that you are exactly."

Gajeel narrowed his eyes before they widened dramatically; he then burst out laughing.

"GIHIHIHIHIheeee…ho…shit…are you seriously trying…to recruit me?"

Director Fury clenched his fist hard enough that Gajeel heard the boned crackle before relaxing. He responded "I was thinking about giving you a chance, dipshit."

Fury stood up suddenly, walking over to the wall and back, placing his hands on the back of the chair and staring into Gajeel's eyes.

"There's an idea in the works right now…we call it the Avengers Initiative. An idea to bring together a group of…remarkable people, to fight the battles that we can't."

Gajeel stopped sniggering and turned an inquisitive eye on the Director.

"Yeah? And what, ya want me to be a part of some fucking buddy club?"

"Maybe. If you prove I can trust you. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mister Redfox, but you don't exactly have a fuckton of friends in this new dimension. So here's how I see it. You can go it alone, and eventually wind up dead in a gutter somewhere, or worse. Or…you can become part of something bigger. Maybe survive long enough that maybe, just maybe, we can find you a way home."

Gajeel's gaze sharpened significantly.

"How the fuck are you supposed to be able to do that?"

Fury smiled humorlessly and drew a folder out from inside of his trenchcoat. He threw it on the table in front of Gajeel, where it made a soft _thump_.

"Here. Why don't you read up a little bit, I'll come back in a few hours, and we'll se what you have to say then. Good day, Mister Redfox."

The door closed after Fury stalked out of the room, and Gajeel opened the folder almost hesitantly. Inside, the front page was a picture of a glowing blue cube that radiated potentiality, under which was written the words _The Tesseract: Experiment F-17 in Spacial Destabilization_

 _Results: Partial Wormhole test successful, 26_ _th_ _of March…_

As he read through the document, what little he could understand made his heart beat faster. Maybe…just maybe, this could work.

. . .

Mystogan watched as Erza and Thor made their way up the street, their heads leaned towards each other as they engaged in avid conversation. Despite himself, Mystogan smiled behind the mask. During his five years in Fairy Tail, he'd never grown particularly close to any member of the guild; his outsider status and need for secrecy prevented that, but he had observed from afar often enough. He privately wished every member of the guild happiness; they were all fine people, stout of heart and loyal to the end, though the Master's grandson had grown…difficult, in the time before he had been called back to this dimension.

In his mind, Erza was the one who deserved the most joy, after what she'd been through. He knew his doppelganger Jellal had caused her immense pain in the past; it was one of the reasons he took such pains to disguise himself while at the guild. Thus, seeing her with Thor, the relationship that was developing…well, he wished her all the luck in the world.

Unfortunately, he knew that it was his duty to interrupt that joy. She had a part to play in what was to come. Perhaps if she survived, she might find her happiness with Odinson, but for now, Mystogan knew that she must be informed of the coming darkness.

With that in mind, Mystogan waited as she drew closer, not moving from his spot in the middle of the street. A mild geas in the area made him unnoticeable to all who did not bear the mark of Fairy Tail, the Asgardians slipping past as if he didn't exist.

Finally, the redhead noticed him, whatever words she was about to speak to Thor dying on her tongue as her eyes widened dramatically. Thor noticed the change almost immediately, his hammer by his side in an instant as he spoke to Erza in a low whisper. She shook her head and whispered back hurriedly. Mystogan simply turned and melted into the crowd, walking in the direction of a secluded garden that he'd noticed while walking down from the palace.

Erza was not long in following him, Thor dogging her footsteps, alert to any danger.

The two of them found him seated on a boulder surrounded by gnarled trees. As soon as they were nearby, Mystogan gripped one of his staves and activated a line of runes that he'd drawn earlier that would keep others from sticking their noses into this meeting.

Erza stopped in front of him, her arms crossed while multiple emotions warred across her face. She finally settled on anger and spat out "What the _hell_ are you doing here, Mystogan? And for that matter, how did you even come to Asgard?"

Mystogan sighed and raised his hands in a placating manner.

"Peace, Erza. I promise, anything you wish to know, I will tell you. I am here simply because I wish to speak to you."

Erza growled, while Thor simply looked confused.

"Forgive me, lady Erza, but could you introduce us? You know this man?"

Erza let out a huff of air before gesturing to Mystogan.

"This is Mystogan. He's…a member of Fairy Tail."

Thor's eyes widened comically.

"Truly? How did you come to be here?"

"I was born here."

Erza's eyes widened once again before she managed to let out a strangled " _What_?"

"Let me start at the beginning. Perhaps then, you will understand. As early as I can remember, I was a street urchin. An orphan. A nobody."

Mystogan paused, lost for a moment in old memories before shaking himself and forging ahead. "However, around about the time I turned five years old, I was saved by a man named Wong. He just so happened to be the second in command to the Ancient One, the being who is currently the most powerful mage in this dimension. Well…the most powerful _human_ mage at least."

Thor lowered his hammer and shook his head in disbelief.

"The Ancient One? Truly…I had never imagined…"

Mystogan continued on, ignoring Thor "The Ancient One, or the Sorcerer Supreme as he is more commonly known, keeps an eye on many different dimensions for threats. However, even with his immense power, he can only do so much. That's where I come in. After my training was complete, I was sent to one of the dimensions that he does not actively watch, but wanted to keep tabs on. I just happened to land a few kilometers outside of Magnolia. That was seven years ago."

Erza's brows drew together as her mind raced.

"Seven years ago. I remember the day you joined…the Master seemed rather secretive about it, come to think about it. He never spoke of you much."

"Indeed he did not. He's the only one in Earthland that I ever told of my origin, and as far as I know, he's the only one who ever knew. Master Makarov agreed to keep my secret, and in return, I agreed to join Fairy Tail and help the guild when I wasn't on mission for the Ancient One."

Erza frowned and asked "Then why are you here? For that matter, _how_ are you here? The only reason Gajeel and I arrived in this dimension was due to a freak accident. Only because of Jellal—"

Erza cut herself off midsentence, a flash of pain crossing her face. Thor put a hand on Erza's arm, utterly confused but wanting to provide some semblance of support. Mystogan, however, showed his first emotion of the meeting as his eyes widened in shock.

" _Jellal_!? Jellal was transported as well?"

Erza shrugged, her eyes focused on a distant Asgardian vehicle flying through the alien sky.

"It makes sense. If both Gajeel and I are in this dimension, why not Jellal? He was the first to enter the portal, after all…"

Mystogan began pacing, muttering under his breath. Erza shrugged off Thor's hand and nodded to him, a wan smile on her face.

"I'll tell you later, Odinson."

Thor nodded as well, his brow furrowed in thought and concern.

"Thank you, Lady Erza. And Sir…Mystogan, please, you have yet to tell us why you came. Or how."

Mystogan stopped his pacing and turned back towards the duo. "My apologies, this new information is…disquieting, to say the least. You are right; I still owe you an explanation."

Mystogan reached around into his bundle of staves and withdrew a small totem.

"I am not as well versed in astral projection or teleportation as some of my fellows are, thus, I could not travel to Earthland on my own power. This totem was my transportation; it has been imbued by the Ancient One with arcane power, which allows it to function as a portable gate from this dimension to Earthland, and vice versa. It was only good for two trips, however, and is now burned out. You cannot travel home with it. Which leads me to why I am here. I've come to ask for your help."

Erza and Thor looked at each other, then at Mystogan.

"With what?"

"Events have been set in motion by your arrival, Erza. A darkness is coming, one that I fear will consume all in its path if left unchecked. And according to a seer named Madame Web…you and Gajeel may well be the key to overcoming this darkness. You cannot go home…not yet. I know you miss the guild, and I promise you, once this is over I will do everything in my power to return you to Earthland. But for now…please."

Mystogan kneeled, his head nearly touching the ground as he aired his request.

"This dimension has need of you. All of you."

Thor blinked and asked "All of us?"

Mystogan nodded, still kneeling.

"I cannot say much more. Such is the way of things. But the two of you must return to Earth with all haste. The first attack is coming soon."

Erza's eyes widened, and she turned to Thor. He met her gaze, turned back towards Mystogan, then back to her.

"Do you trust this man? Even after all he has revealed to you?"

Erza didn't even hesitate.

"Regardless of his origins, he is a member of Fairy Tail. I trust him with my life."

Thor nodded once, then held out a hand to Erza.

"Then we should be off. Heimdall will inform my mother of my return to Midgard."

Erza grinned and grasped Thor's hand, who held up his hammer in preparation to fly. Mystogan held up a hand before he could, though.

"One moment."

The cloaked mage once again reached behind his back and withdrew an item. He handed it to Erza, who upon inspecting it, saw that it was a small, glass jar, which contained dozens of small pills.

"This medicine was specially made by the Ancient One. It will allow you and Gajeel to safely use your magic by converting this dimension's arcane particles into Ethernano. Be warned, though; the effects of one pill only last for around an hour, less if you use your magic especially heavily. It's the best solution the Sorcerer Supreme could devise in such a small time frame."

Erza nodded and popped one in her mouth, shivering a little at the unpleasant taste. She suddenly gasped, clutching at her chest as her magical reserves filled up at a rapid pace.

"Lady Erza?" Thor cried out, his grip tightening on his hammer as he threw a glare in Mystogan's direction, readying Mjolnir to throw. A sudden burst of light distracted him, however, and he looked back at Erza, only for his mouth to drop open in surprise. Gone was the dented and travel worn Heart Kreuz armour that his redheaded companion had previously worn. Instead, Erza was now garbed in magnificent silver armour; four shining wings sprouted from her back, seemingly composed of blades, while a silver crown rested on her head. From her neck to her waist, she wore a breastplate that gleamed in the Asgardian sun. A billowing skirt covered in metal plating covered her legs, while her hands held twin swords that seemed sharp enough to cut the very air itself.

Thor found himself lost for words. Here was a woman beyond compare, a mortal who had somehow become something much more. A goddess. A queen.

Titania Erza Scarlet, Queen of the Fairies, turned her head towards Thor and graced him with a tiny smirk.

"Think you can beat me to the Bifrost, Thor?"

Before he could respond, Erza crouched, the ground cracking as she flung herself into the sky, he wings outspread as she sped off towards the Bifrost at a blistering pace.

Thor whistled under his breath as he swung Mjolnir, readying himself for take off.

"Truly, she is without compare."

Releasing Mjolnir from its thrumming rotation, Thor ascended to skies as well, leaving behind a rather amused Mystogan.

"Heh…he _liiiikes_ her."

Back in Earthland, a certain blue cat felt a towering rage as somewhere, someone was copying his catchphrase.

. . .

Director Fury rubbed his temples, trying to relieve the migraine that was building. Gajeel Redfox was even more of a headache than Stark was. Well…maybe they were on the same level. Actually, now that he thought carefully about it, Stark was still the most fucking annoying prick on the pace of the planet.

Fury sighed and turned back to his desk. He'd given Gajeel a push; now, he just had to wait to see if he'd take the next step. Redfox was an interesting specimen; belligerent and somewhat cruel, he nevertheless had shown that he would defend civilians if pushed to it. He was volatile, sure; then again, none of the Avengers candidates were exactly sane. And if he ever got his freakish magical mumbo-jumbo powers back, he'd be a powerhouse for the team. Now, all Fury had to do was find that partner of his…Erza Scarlet, or whatever the hell her name was. Of the two, she sounded more reasonable. However, last time she'd been seen was in Canada, and she sure as all hell wasn't there now.

Suddenly, his communicator rang, and Fury pressed it, the obnoxious ringing doing nothing for his head.

"Coulson. You better have a damn good reason for calling."

"Director, the cube's reacting. You need to get down here now."

Fury froze, migraine forgotten.

"Get everyone the hell out of there. Tell Hill to load up every piece of Phase II tech onto the trucks. I'm on my way."

As he barreled out of the door, Nick Fury couldn't help but feel as if something was beginning. And if the cold pit in his stomach was any indication, _it_ was not going to be good for any of them.

Light years away, in the palace of Asgard, Odin Allfather awoke, the same feeling in his stomach as he came out of the Odinsleep. He wondered what had happened while he was asleep to so drastically change the threads of fate.

In the dark depths of space, in a place where the stars burn blue and the bones of gods long dead float, an army gathered in all their untold numbers. At the head of the army stood the scouts; twelve Chitauri outfitted with blades and plasma rifles. The chattering beings parted as their leader for this mission strode between them and thrust his hand out.

"It is time."

* * *

 **Whooo. Longest chapter of this story yet. Hope it makes up for some of the wait.**

 **I am aware that Erza's armour does not cover her midriff. But that's fucking stupid, so I'm going to make it cover her whole body. Armour is meant to protect vital organs, and while Heaven's Wheel Armour is primarily an offensive armour, it still needs to be able to handle some punishment.**

 **And yes, this marks the beginning of the actual** _ **Avengers**_ **part of this Avengers crossover. Sorry it took so long guys.**

 **Next chapter: Erza and Thor return to Earth, old friends reunite, and new enemies are revealed.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Tesseract has Awakened

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **I apologize if there are any formatting issues or more spelling mistakes than usual. I got a new CPU and keyboard, and am using a new Word Processor, and I am still not used to them. The chapter is also a bit later than I wanted it to be for this reason.**

 **In Shades of Red and Gold will be updated within the next five days though, I swear. Have fun!**

* * *

A shaft of rainbow light pierced the skies of Canada once again, abating after but a moment. This time though, it was not a defeated mortal man who emerged from the Bifrost but a god, wielding a hammer that could shatter mountains, burnished armour strapped onto his body and resolve in his eye. Standing beside him was another figure, one who shined with an equal brilliance. Truly, these were unparalleled warriors, visions of power and might.

Though, some of the nobility of the image was lost when Erza banged her head against a nearby fir in embarrassment.

"I forgot to ask Mystogan where we were supposed to go!"

Thor chuckled softly and set Mjolnir on the forest floor.

"Peace, Lady Erza. I spoke with Heimdall before I followed you through the Bifrost; he is not known as the Watcher of Worlds for nothing. Your guildmate is with the group of humans called SHIELD."

Erza halted her self-inflicted punishment at the news, her brow scrunched up. "I have heard that name before...but I cannot recall where…"

"We met two of their agents when you were inflicted with the Ethernano, it is understandable you do not remember. One of them came with us to Asgard at my invitation. Agent Fleming, her name was. I told Heimdall to send her along after us as soon as possible. Fear not, Lady Erza. We will find Gajeel soon enough."

Erza smiled sheepishly and stepped away from the fir, which had a large head shaped indentation in it from her actions. The two warriors stood in companionable silence for a time, enjoying the mountain air together. Gradually, though, Thor found his gaze attracted to Erza. It was difficult not to look at her; she seemed to glow with suppressed power now, like a storm just about to break. Having seen her only briefly use her magic, Thor found this new armour fascinating.

Erza noticed his attention and raised an eyebrow in question. Thor coughed in slight embarrassment before speaking.

"My apologies. I did not mean to stare...it is simply...seeing you in this armour...I have many questions…"

Erza nodded, a ghost of a smile on her face. "Ask away."

"Well...what is this armour called? If I remember correctly, the one you used before is known as Purgatory Armour."

Erza nodded and raised a hand. A magic circle sprang into existence, a sword appearing after a bare moment had passed. It floated through the air into Erza's hand as she began her explanation.

"This is my Heaven's Wheel Armour. It is my go to armour for most combat; it is enchanted to allow flight, boosts my ability to summon weapons, enhances my telekinesis...the list goes on for quite awhile. While it does not increase my strength like my Black Wing Armour does, it is very adaptable."

Ten more swords appeared out of thin air and began circling around Erza. Thor eyed them, a gleam in his eyes.

"Perhaps, when we are not pressed for time, you would be agreeable to another fight, Lady Erza?"

Erza's smile turned predatory.

"I wouldn't mind at all, Odinson. I've been looking forwards to seeing how you handle that hammer of yours. Such a large, heavy weapon must be difficult to wiel…d...uh."

Thor's gaze sharpened with concern as he noticed a hearty red blush appear on his companion's face.

"Lady Erza? What is it?" When she did not respond, Thor turned over her last statement in his mind a few times. A large, heavy weapon that is difficult to wield…

Thor's face suddenly cleared and his own cheeks rouged as well.

Thankfully, another beam of light descended from the heavens moments afterwards, Agent Fleming stepping out of the Bifrost with Sif by her side. The Asgardian reached out to steady her Midgardian passenger before noticing Thor and Erza; for some reason, they were both blushing and avoiding eye contact with the other.

Sif's eyes narrowed, and she asked "How fare the two of you?"

"We should be on our way. Agent Fleming, I believe you know the way to SHIELD?"

Agent Fleming nodded, still looking a bit worse for wear from her ride through the Bifrost.

"Headquarters is in Washington. I should be able to find out where they're keeping Gajeel from there."

Erza nodded, pushing her previous thoughts away. She grabbed ahold of the agent and nodded to Thor.

"No time to waste then; reuniting with my guildmate is long past overdue. Thor, can you carry Sif?"

Thor held out his hand to his fellow Asgardian, who grimaced before taking it.

"If you crash into a mountain again, you owe me a new sword."

"Must you always bring up Vanaheim? Twas one time, Lady Sif."

. . .

"Get up, you're coming with us."

Gajeel looked towards the door, seeing Director Fury standing outside of his cell with a rather impatient scowl on his face.

"And if I say no?"

Fury's teeth ground together hard enough that Gajeel could hear them from where he was sitting.

"I don't have time to deal with a smartass right now, Redfox. Get your ass up or you're spending the next six months shitting in a bucket. Time to make your decision."

Gajeel snorted at the empty threat as he stood up. He'd thought over Fury's offer for hours, debating with himself all the various pros and cons of aligning himself with SHIELD. On the cons side...well, they were spooks, plain and simple, and they reminded him too much of the old Rune Knights back in Fiore. Gajeel was smart enough to know that there were some very dangerous forces at work in the organization, and he wouldn't want to get too attached. That said, they did seem to have a solution to getting home. That pretty much sold the idea in his mind. As long as he kept the appropriate distance from SHIELD, everything would work out fine. And if something happened, he could always just break some heads.

"Where we goin'?"

Fury turned and stormed out of the room as soon as Gajeel indicated his assent, leaving him to hastily follow.

"Coulson called; the Tesseract is apparently acting up. If you're finally ready to pull your head out of your ass and get on board, we'll be taking a chopper to the JDEMF."

"The fuck's that stand for, and why the fuck am I coming with you?"

"Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, and you are tagging along as a measure of good faith on my part; I'm a nice guy like that. If anything happens to the Tesseract, you're up shit creek without a paddle as far as going back to whatever hellhole you came from, got it? You get to make sure your way home stays safe, and you fulfill your first mission; namely, guarding my ass since Romanoff is in Russia and Barton is at the facility already."

Gajeel rolled his eyes, his teeth glinting as he grinned. As cantankerous as Fury was, he seemed like good people in Gajeel's book. Even if he did dress like a freak.

"Aye, I got it. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside to know that you care about me. It's disgusting."

"Goddamn, you're just as bad as Stark is."

The two of them reached the helicopter, jumping inside; Gajeel hesitated momentarily at the foreign technology, but just shrugged and jumped on. Fiore had a variety of airships and other magical transports, and if Fury trusted the contraption enough to ride in it, then so could he. The chopper soon lifted off of the ground, the cabin occupied by Fury, Gajeel, and a woman that Gajeel didn't know.

"Why me though?" Gajeel asked, shouting over the sound of the rotors. "Thought you headed up a big badass spy organization or something?"

Fury shouted back "I told you, my best agents are either away on business or too busy with the evacuation. Hill here is second in command, so she's got her own shit to deal with. You took down two of Coulson's best with nothing more than your fists, it's good enough for me, and this way I kill two birds with one stone. Think of this as a test to prove yourself."

Gajeel groaned and resisted the urge to facepalm. History, it seemed, had a way of repeating itself.

. . .

The helicopter landed on a pad at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility within the hour, and the small group of two SHIELD personnel and one Fioran mage clambered out.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked of Agent Coulson, who was waiting calmly at the edge of the helipad.

"That's the problem, sir. We don't know."

The foursome quickly strode towards the doors of the facility. Gajeel grunting out the word "Baldy", which Coulson studiously ignored, choosing instead to inform them of what he knew.

"Doctor Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago."

Fury frowned and responded "NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase."

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event."

Gajeel frowned as well, eyes glinting questioningly.

"It just turned itself on?"

Coulson nodded at the question as the group ran down a flight of stairs that led underground.

"What are the energy levels at now?" Fury asked, his demeanor all grim business.

"Climbing. When I last checked in, they were past the safety margins by fifty percent. I ordered evac after it became clear we couldn't shut it off."

"How long until you get everyone out?"

Coulson answered the question after barely a beat passed.

"Half an hour at the rate they're clearing out."  
"Do better."

Coulson nodded and split off, though not before sending a half smile at Gajeel.

"Good to see you on our side, Mister Redfox."

Gajeel grinned, showing off his lengthened canines to great effect.

"Whatever, old man. Get moving."

The threesome continued downwards, taking the stairs as fast as possible. After a few seconds, Maria Hill interjected "Sir, evacuation may be futile."

"We should just tell them to go back to sleep?"

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not _be_ a minimum safe distance."

Fury grunted and said "Agent Hill, until the world ends we will act as though it intends to spin on. We don't give up because of 'what ifs'."

Gajeel agreed with Fury, thinking back to his fight with Fairy Tail during the guild war. If they had called it quits when their odds of winning were small, they never would have won against Phantom Lord in the end.

Hill murmured a quiet "Yes sir." and the group continued on. Fury shot a look at Gajeel before asking carefully "I need you to make sure all of the Phase Two prototypes are packed up and shipped out."

Once again, Hill protested, saying "Sir, is that really a priority right now?"

Fury flicked his eyes to Gajeel meaningfully.

"It might be in the future. Clear out every piece of tech you can."

"Yes sir."

Gajeel narrowed his eyes. He'd have to keep an ear out, try and find what Phase Two referred to. Whatever it was, Fury didn't want him knowing about it.

The two of them finally arrived in the room where the Tesseract was located. Thick stone walls rose up into a dome far over their heads, the room filled with scrambling scientists. Fury continued striding forwards, talking a scientist. Gajeel, however, froze in place as soon as they entered the room.

There was Ethernano here.

Well, not Ethernano precisely, at least, not like any magical energy Gajeel had ever felt. It was...different. Thicker, older, and more powerful. The energy that permeated the air seeped into his veins, and Gajeel would have whooped if the situation wasn't so odd. Why would there be Ethernano here, in this random ass facility run by a bunch of magicless civilians? Unless…

Gajeel turned his attention towards the center of the room, the device which lay at the epicenter of the chaos. It was a ring of metal, threaded with wires and hoses. And in the center of the ring was a glowing blue cube that pulsed every few seconds.

Gajeel's heart skipped a beat, his eyes widening in shock. Whatever that...thing was, it had more magical energy crammed into it than Gajeel had ever felt. Just being near such a nexus of power was like standing too close to a roaring bonfire or being in the vicinity of a bomb that was constantly exploding.

"Gajeel?"

Hearing his name being spoken snapped the Dragon Slayer out of his tunned reverie, and he looked up to see a familiar face.

"Selvig? What's a geezer like you doing here?"

Erik Selvig chuckled and slapped the other man on the shoulder.

"They brought me in just yesterday to take a look at the Tesseract. They wanted to get my opinion on it, given my expertise in astrophysics. I didn't complain too much...my way of thanking them for helping with Jane."

"How is Strawberry Girl anyways?"

Selvig frowned slightly and responded "Better, that's all we know for sure. They've been able to draw out most of the Ethernano from her system, but some of it has been stubborn. The SHIELD doctor I spoke to said that it's down to manageable levels...well, manageable if it was gamma radiation, which is the closest energy signature to Ethernano there is on public record."

Gajeel felt relieved; a part of him had been worried that Jane would suffer permanently due to the artifact from his world. Hopefully, she could be scrubbed of the last remnants of Ethernano and go on with her life.

The Tesseract released another spurt of energy and Gajeel turned his gaze back on it. Whatever the cube was, it was dangerous, and the scientists clearly didn't have control over it. Not a great combination in his book.

Selvig noticed his attention and remarked "It's the Tesseract, isn't it? You were spacing out earlier, I'm guessing that's why. From what I've been able to gather since working here, its energy signature is closer to Ethernano than gamma radiation. What does it feel like?"

"Old. And strong. Way too dense as well. Normally, Ethernano is...almost like air. It's there, you can feel it, and sometimes there are currents of it that are stronger than others. But this? It's like comparing a light breeze to a hurricane. I can't stay here long or I'll overload."

"Overload?" Selvig looked concerned.

"Yeah, I heard about it happening to a few guys back home. See, every mage has got an Ethernano reserve of a specific size. You can work on enlarging it, but that takes weeks or months of hard work to do that. If ya reach the cap of your reserves, you need to use magic until the level goes back down. If ya don't, bad things start happening; ya get the shivers and shakes at first, then you'll start bleeding off energy through yer skin. If the levels get too high, the Ethernano will literally boil you alive inside your own skin. Not a pretty way to go, I can tell ya that."

Selvig looked vaguely sick at the prospect.

"Does this mean you can do...magic...now?"

Gajeel held up his arm and flexed his fist.

"Well, let's see."

Concentrating, Gajeel forced his magic to respond. After so long without use, it leapt to his command like an eager puppy, and his arm shimmered before transforming into a flat iron blade.

Selvig's eyes widened comically, and Gajeel smirked victoriously.

"Guess I still got it."

"Sword arm? Ok, even I've gotta admit that that's cool."

Gajeel away from Selvig, noticing for the first time the man who spoke. He was muscular, with short cropped hair and light skin. He wore a light jacket and had a firearm strapped to his waist.

"Agent Barton. You must be Gajeel Redfox. Gotta say, you're not as pretty as the redhead was."

"You know where Erza is?"

The man, Agent Barton, nodded, his eyes still tracking Gajeel's former sword-arm.

"She met up with some space alien god guy after beating up a giant robot and got whisked away to Candyland or something."

Gajeel blinked twice before asking "What?"

"Trust me, it was just as weird as it sounds. So...Fury brought you in?"

"Tch...yeah. Bastard threatened to shut me in a cell for six months if I didn't."

Barton chuckled.

"That sounds like Fury. You should hear what he threatened Romanoff with when I first brought her in. It's really not that bad though, working for SHIELD. You get good pay, lots of exciting places to visit, and you can play with all the exciting toys. They've got a great dental plan too."

Gajeel smiled widely.

"Dental, huh?"

"My, what big teeth you have, grandmother."

Gajeel's expression morphed into one of confusion.

"Huh?"

Barton shook his head and responded "Never mind. Earth reference."

A technician suddenly called out "Doctor, it's spiking again."

Selvig excused himself to Gajeel and Barton and moved towards the Tesseract. Gajeel and Barton shrugged at each other and followed.

Fury noticed their presence and grunted before asking "Barton. You seen anything that might have set this thing off?"

The agent shook his head and responded "No one's come or gone. It's oven is clean, no contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, it wasn't from this end, sir."

"At this end?"

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space right? That was one of the big projects planned for it anyways." Barton pointed a thumb at Gajeel "Well...doors open from both sides."

Suddenly, Gajeel collapsed to the floor. The energy surges from the Tesseract, which had been spiking slightly just a second before, had suddenly taken a sharp upwards turn and hadn't stopped. Even as he tried to regulate the flow of energy inside of his body, Gajeel could feel his limbs beginning to shake.

Selvig and Barton cast concerned looks at the Dragon Slayer but stayed in their places; Barton because he barely knew the man and needed to be ready for whatever was coming, and Selvig because of what the Tesseract was doing.

Sparking in its pedestal, the Tesseract began emitting a ring of blue energy that rotated inwards. The energy coalesced into a brilliant beam which shot out across the room, hitting a small platform. The bubbling ball of energy that formed expanded outwards until it was the size of a small house, gradually turning black in the center. From the ball emerged a shape...and then another one, and then more. Running full tilt out of the rip in space, the figures gradually became clear. They seemed to be some kind of monstrous humanoid, their bodies covered in grey and blue armour that had several glowing parts. The emerging aliens hefted large rifles of some kind, and began firing without a word.

Scientists dove for cover to avoid the searing blue bolts that emerged from the beings' guns, agents firing with their handguns to little or no effect. Barton moved to cover Director Fury, while Selvig dragged Gajeel behind a console. The Dragon Slayer could feel a massive headache forming, and was emitting a green mist from his skin. In other words, he was perilously close to an Ethernano overload.

Through the pain, Gajeel was able to recognize the threat posed by the advancing aliens. He saw a scientist go down, a hole burnt through her chest by one of pulses of energy that were flying through the air. With a colossal effort, Gajeel heaved himself up over the top of the console, ignoring Selvig's protests, and roared.

" **Iron Dragon ROAAAAAR**!"

A green magic circle formed in front of Gajeel's mouth and a tornado of metal issued forth. Tiny slivers of iron shredded everything in their path, thoroughly pulping the advancing intruders. The tornado abated after but a moment, vanishing at the same time as the portal closed. Gajeel sagged on the edge of the console, already feeling better at the release of magical energy. He was still overloaded, but no longer dangerously so.

Heads started popping out from behind cover, staring incredulously at the devastation the Dragon Slayer had unleashed. The breath attack had not only ripped the alien force to shreds but had also managed to burrow several meters into solid stone. The entire area glittered with a metallic sheen, little bits of iron that had scattered across the floor and walls.

It was unlike anything any of them had seen before, even after years of working at SHIELD. However, before any of the scientists or agents could comment on the incredible power, the clapping began. Slow, mocking clapping that reverberated down the length of the hall, coming from the place where the portal had once opened.

Where once there had been a ball of energy now stood a single man carrying some kind of scepter. He was dressed in elaborate battle armour, black metal glinting from beneath a dark navy robe, the metal lit by the azure maelstrom of energy directly over his head. He seemed unconcerned by the devastation around him, a smirk on his face as if it amused him. The man brushed a lock of blue hair out of his face, the crimson tattoo over his eye scrunching up slightly as he observed the room.

"Well...isn't this interesting?"

Jellal Fernandes stepped down from the twisted pile of metal that had once been a platform, an arrogant smile on his face and a mad gleam in his eye.

. . .

The tension in the room ratcheted up as soon as the blue haired man revealed himself. Fury narrowed his eye at the newcomer, attempting to ascertain the threat he posed. Seeing as he had somehow managed to remain undamaged during...whatever the hell Redfox had done, he was obviously either very agile or very tough. Probably both, with his luck.

"Sir, please put down the spear!"

The man looked at Fury, shrugged and released the weapon in question. Milliseconds after it had left his hand, the man vanished from view in a flash of yellow light, reappearing next to two of Fury's agents. They died in a bare moment, their necks broken. The man vanished again, returning to his previous location and grabbing the scepter before it touched the ground.

"I don't need such a tool to put weaklings like you in your place. No...I'm reserving this for others."

The stranger's eyes fixed onto Gajeel, who was staring at the man with wide eyes.

"You...you're him. That Jellal guy. I saw you inside of that Ethernano chunk…"

Jellal's smile widened, and he gave the onlookers a mocking bow.

"The same. And you must be Gajeel Redfox. A pleasure. Frankly, I'm astounded you managed to worm your way into Fairy Tail after the little war you had."

Jellal flashed forwards, reappearing directly in front of Gajeel. He pressed the sceptre to the Dragon Slayer's chest, a burst of energy flowing from the sceptre's gem into Gajeel, whose eyes turned fully black before fading to an icy blue colour.

Not knowing what was going on but knowing it was probably going to be very very bad for him if he allowed it to continue, Barton sprang to Gajeel's defense, an arm swinging at Jellal while his other hand palmed his gun. The blue haired man caught Barton's blow with little trouble and vaporized his pistol with a blast of dark fire.

"You have heart, but you lack guidance. Let me show you what I learned these past days."

Barton struggled as much as he could, but to no avail. The sceptre was pressed to his chest as well, and his eyes clouded over black, another slave to Jellal's will.

Fury fought to keep his panic under control at seeing the intruder, Jellal, turn two men into puppets...somehow. Pushing aside preponderances on the mechanics of the spear, Fury decided to act. He opened up a special briefcase that was meant to be used to transport the Tesseract under emergency circumstances and removed the cube from its mounting, hissing at the temperature. As Barton was fully subdued, Fury turned to leave.

"Please don't. I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier."

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. My lord will not accept failure."

Fury turned, his face carefully neutral.

"Lord?"

Jellal grinned, his lips manically wide as he spoke.

"I had my eyes opened. Once upon a time, in my old life, I worshipped a false god. His name was Zeref. At the time, I thought him great. I thought him powerful. But now...now, mine eyes have seen a true glory. He has made me his Voice, and I shall carry his message to all corners of the universe."

Fury snorted and said "Yeah, I already got that spiel from the Mormons. What's your god selling?"

The man cackled and raised his hands.

"Rejoice, for I come with glad tidings; a world made free!"

"Free from what?"

Jellal abruptly turned deadly serious, all amusement gone from his face.

"Freedom. Freedom does not exist in this world. It is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…" Jella whipped around and pressed his sceptre to Selvig's chest, who had been attempting to sneak up on him "...you will know peace."

Fury's eye narrowed.

"Forgive me for not getting an overly peaceful vibe off of you right now."

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling." Agent Barton interrupted "The energy from the portal is coalescing. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

Fury smirked "Like the pharaohs of old."

Jellal rolled his eyes and said "Gajeel, if you would?"

The Dragon Slayer raised his hand, a magic circle forming. A short metal spear shot out, impaling Fury through the shoulder and pinning him to the wall.

Selvig grabbed the briefcase containing the Tesseract, while Barton and Gajeel flanked Jellal on either side. The four of them marched out of the underground room, leaving behind a severely injured Fury who was cursing every deity he could name.

Grabbing the spear with one hand, Fury grit his teeth and heaved it out of the wall, the spear coming out of his shoulder with a wet sound. Ignoring the blood streaming from the wound, Fury palmed his communicator.

"Hill? Hill, do you copy? We have a hostile in the area, Barton's been compromised, Redfox as well. Shoot on sight!"

Gunshots echoed through the communicator, and Fury knew they'd been intercepted. As he struggled up the stairs, he wondered whether that was a good or bad thing.

. . .

Though Agent Hill gave it her all, the foursome managed to evade her, escaping on a stolen Humvee into the desert. The explosion from the Tesseract had wiped out the entire facility, causing billions of dollars in damages and costing dozens of lives, though Fury had managed to escape at the last second.

Hill's communicator crackled to life.

"This is Fury. Does anyone copy?"  
Hill responded "This is Hill."

A chorus of affirmatives came out of the speaker, Fury waiting until they finished to resume speaking.

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force. Hill, I want you coordinating the rescue teams. Sound the general call, I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."

"Yes sir."

"Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."

There was a pause before Coulson's voice came over the line.

"Sir...what do we do?"

Fury hissed as he felt his shoulder twinge in protest. Clamping down on the pain, he brought the communicator back to his lips.

"We're gonna assemble the Avengers."

* * *

 **When I originally set out to write this fic, the first scene was meant to happen at this point. However, after much deliberation I decided that Gajeel and Erza needed more grounding than just 'being thrown right into the Avengers conflict'. And well...nine chapters later and here we are, finally to the place where I originally wanted to start this story. Some of you guys have noticed that the previous chapters have rushed through some things; this is the reason why. From now on, I will try to elaborate as much as possible; trust me, the Avengers arc is going to be much longer than eight chapters.**

 **Next Chapter: What Fury said...duh.**


	10. Chapter 10: Avengers Assemble! Part One

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **I've gotten a fair number of flames recently, one in particular which stated I should be shot because of how bad my story was. I'm only going to say this once: Shut the fuck up and get the hell off of this site. Do it. I ain't got time for that shit. If you don't like my story, fine, tell me, but at least try to keep it respectful.**

 **If anyone wants to do any fanart of this, I would love to have a new cover image.**

 **This is part one of the chapter. Part two will be uploaded soon. I had to split them in half due to length (I mean, this chapter is already the longest I've ever uploaded, and the other half is comparable in length.)**

* * *

The runway was practically deserted, cold rain dripping down onto less than half a dozen small bush planes. Despite the emptiness of the area, Bruce Banner knew that something was wrong the moment he stepped off onto the ground.

After all of the strange things that happened in Canada, he'd decided to take his fortunes elsewhere; preferably someplace less weird, somewhere where he wasn't in danger of being found. Which is why he'd 'persuaded' (read, bribed with several hundred dollars) an independent pilot to fly him to Alaska immediately, after which he planned to take a boat to Russia and move on from there. If all went well, he'd be in Calcutta in a few months, and General Ross would be none the wiser.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like Bruce was going to be sampling any Indian _kolkata_ anytime soon if the red haired woman in front of him was an indication. After so long on the run, Bruce had a finely tuned sense for danger and was a fair hand at reading people's intentions and backgrounds. And this woman screamed government agent.

No doubt there were other agents in hiding. He had to give Ross credit, the man was relentless.

"Love the outfit. What're you going for, homeless vagrant?"

Bruce chuckled humorlessly.

"Nice clothes tend to attract attention from the wrong sort of people."

The woman crossed her arms and smirked before saying "I can imagine. You look awfully cold though. You should find a better jacket."

"Thanks for the advice, but if it's all the same to you, I'll be on my way."

The woman didn't move, nor did Bruce. If they were here to capture him, they could at least stop dancing around the subject. After a moment, the redhead sighed and reached up to tuck a lock of wet hair behind her ear.

"Doctor Banner, I'm going to cut to the chase. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD. Fury sent me. We need you to come in."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, surprised. So she wasn't with Ross? That changed things...slightly. He still didn't trust her, but Nick Fury at least hadn't tried to capture him. Yet.

"Mmm. How'd you find me, anyways?"

"We never lost you. We've kept our distance. The only time we've been within a hundred meters of your home was a few days ago, and we weren't exactly there because of you."

"A few days...Thor and Erza?" Bruce questioned. "They were telling the truth?"

The woman hummed.

"Trust me, you don't know the half of it."

Bruce frowned in thought, pushing aside his skepticism for now.

"So...what's Fury's play on this? What's he planning with me, a Norse god, and a sorcerer?"

The woman withdrew a phone from her pocket and tossed it to Bruce. After fumbling it with cold fingers, he managed to make out the...blue cube? The blue cube that was on the screen.

"That," began the woman "...is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

"What's Fury want me to do with it, swallow it?" Bruce countered, a little more harshly than he'd intended.

The woman was unfazed though.

"He wants you to find it. It's been stolen. It gives off a radiation signature, too weak for us to trace it...but no one knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

Huh. "So Fury's not after the monster?" Bruce asked, perplexed and wary.

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?"

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this."

"He needs me in a cage?"

The woman bristled faintly, and she said "No one is going in a cage except the guy who started this."

Bruce paused. He'd been ready to test her, try to gauge what her reaction was, but something in her voice made him stop. There was history here between this woman and whoever had stolen the Tesseract. Something personal.

"The one who took the cube?"

The woman grimaced and turned away, not sharing any more. After a moment, Bruce sighed, running a hand through stringy hair.

"If I say yes...and I'm not saying I will...I'm only tracking it. Nothing more. And when I leave, I want SHIELD off my back."

The woman looked up and nodded, a slight dip of her head.

"That's agreeable, I'm sure Fury will sign off on that. So...you on board?"

Bruce glanced longingly in the general direction of Russia before finally giving in.

"Yeah. Lead the way, Miss..."

"Romanov. Natasha Romanov."

. . .

Over four thousand kilometers away, a very different meeting was taking place.

"This is out of line Director. You're dealing with freaks, forces of nature...these people can not be controlled."

Nick Fury increased his stranglehold on the railing in front of him. He knew this would happen; it seemed the only thing the World Security Council was good at was annoying the shit out of him.

"You ever been in a war, Councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?"

The Councilor frowned, image flickering.

"Are you saying this Jellal has declared war on our planet?"

Fury resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"It certainly seemed that way to me."

Another Councilor leaned forwards, adding on "And what about the other one, Gajeel? Your decision to trust him has backfired considerably. Turning sides that quickly...it does not speak well for your judgement, Director Fury."

"With respect, Councilors, I believe that Mister Redfox is the one who has been wronged here. Both Agent Barton and Erik Selvig were turned, and neither one had any reason to, Barton least of all. He's been one of my best agents for years. Whatever that staff is, it gives Jellal the ability to control others." Fury directed his gaze towards each Councilor in turn. "Gajeel Redfox is not the enemy here. Jellal is. And we need a response team to combat him."

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of human race to a handful of freaks."

Fury's frown deepened.

"I'm not leaving anything to anybody. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

"You believe?" began one of the Councilors "War isn't won by sentiment, Director."

Fury knew that fact well enough.

"No...it's won by soldiers."

. . .

Steve Rogers was at something of a loss, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling.

Waking up seventy years after dropping into the ice could do that to a person. Everything was so... _different_. Nothing seemed the same. The buildings were too shiny, the cars were too fast, everywhere he turned there were screens and lights and a cacophony of sounds. It was frightening and disorienting, and sometimes, he just wanted it to stop. Lord knows he hadn't slept in days, the lights outside of his windows far brighter than he was used to. Although, the nightmares probably had more to do with his lack of sleep...

What was there left for him to live for? Everyone he knew was most likely dead or so old they would be unrecognizable. The war was over, the battle won, and Steve Rogers was a soldier without a purpose.

"Trouble sleeping?"

Steve broke himself out of his ruminations to look towards the door of his room. He'd only been awake for a handful of days, and hadn't yet been moved out of the faux forties apartment that he'd woken up in. After Nick Fury (the black man in charge of SHIELD, and wasn't that a pleasant surprise. Steve had always been critical of certain 'policies' back in the day) had explained the situation to him, Steve had agreed to stay onsite for awhile. It wasn't like he had anywhere he could go.

"I slept for seventy years sir. Think I've had my fill."

Fury grunted noncommittally before dropping into a chair opposite him.

"Suppose so. No desire to see the outside world though?"

Steve shrugged, grimacing.

"Maybe...right now I'm just trying to find my feet. When I went under, the world was at war, and I was in the thick of it for years...suddenly being back is...and how I…" Steve trailed off before saying "Frankly, sir, I don't know what to do."

Fury's eye bored into him, searching.

"Mmm. I'm an old soldier, Rogers. I've seen your type before. Guys come back from the front, guys who've been through hell...then they get home, expecting everything to go back to the way things were but instead, everything's changed. People have moved on without them, kids have grown up. Timmy got divorced and is seeing someone else. As time goes on, you get to realizing that you've changed as well, maybe even more than they have, and you can't go back. Only forwards. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you how easy it is, because it isn't. But the first step to living again doesn't involve sitting on your ass all day, alone."

Steve sighed and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

"You here on a mission?"

"I am."

"Come here to give me a pep talk, get me back into the world?"

Fury shook his head once.

"No. I'm trying to save it."

Steve's previous lethargic look sharpened, years of honed instincts rising to the surface. Fury noticed the change and smiled minutely before placing a standard military folder on the table. Flipping it open, Steve noticed the image on the front page, a blue, glowing cube that he was intimately familiar with.

"Hydra's secret weapon. What's happened to it?"

"It's been stolen. We've had our hands on it since you went under, thanks to Howard Stark. That cube holds the potential to be the key to unlocking unlimited clean energy...or, it could be a weapon that could wipe countries off the face of the Earth. You can see why we're concerned."

Steve nodded, having been on the receiving end of more than his fair share of HYDRA's weapons.

"Who stole it?"

"He's called Jellal, he's...not from around here."

Flipping the page again, Steve made out a blurry photo of a man with...was that blue hair? Steve shrugged; he'd seen weirder things.

"There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

Steve released a humorless chuckle.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me after what I've been through, Director."

Fury smirked and responded "Ten bucks says you're wrong."

The two men shook on it, a small thrill running through Steve's mind. If there was one thing Steve Rogers knew how to do, it was fight. Maybe this would be exactly what he needed; ever since coming out of the ice, he hadn't really been living. But this...maybe he could be Captain America again, if only to move forwards. Ignorant of the Captain's inner thoughts, Fury stood and turned to leave. Stopping at the door, he spoke over his shoulder.

"Everything you need to know is in that debriefing packet. If you're in, ask for Agent Cross. He'll get you to where you need to be. And Rogers?"

"Yes sir?"

Fury's smirk widened.

"Just telling you right now, you owe me ten bucks."

. . .

Tony Stark sat in front of a bank of computer screens, eyes unblinking as he observed them. Agent Coulson, damn his smug little smile to hell, had somehow managed to maneuver his way into his own house and turn Pepper against him. And on date night as well. It was patently unfair.

Still, on the bright side, he had Pepper's promise to look forwards to. Sex was a great motivator that way, especially if the offer was coming from a hot ginger vixen. And it wasn't every day Coulson brought him a present like this. The information Agent McStuffyPants given to him was like Christmas, Easter, and two birthdays all rolled into one. Which, considering he was a billionaire, just made it all the more impressive.

Onscreen, a towering green man-thing tossed a truck like it was a basketball. Another man with flowing blonde hair raised a hammer to skies and summoned a bolt of lightning that shook the earth and the camera along with it. Footage he had never seen before of true to life _Captain America_ played, and if the files were to be believed, the soldier was _still alive_. Wasn't that just jiffy.

A woman with flowing red hair suddenly glowed yellow and reappeared wearing what looked like a spiky tube top, complete with a club that looked like a tree's worst nightmare. And most interesting, a man with wild black hair spewed a tornado of metallic shards out of his mouth by _screaming_.

It had been only a few days since he'd taken care of Vanko and found out he wasn't going to die from palladium poisoning, but boredom travelled at lightspeed fro Tony Stark. Working on Stark Tower was fun enough, but now that he'd signed over the company to Pepper, Tony found himself with waaay too much time on his hands. He'd spent a few hours repairing the Mark VI, and using all of his newly found free time, was more than halfway done with the Mark VII. But this...this took precedence.

There was no way he wasn't jumping on this bandwagon. He wanted in on the fun. Pepper could handle the construction of Stark Tower for now, he needed to go save the world. Again. It seemed to be a running theme for him.

Tony Stark smiled to himself and sent message to Fury telling him that he was onboard, making sure to end the message with a winking smiley face. Fighting for Fury's team he may be, but Tony would never stop trying to annoy him. He was just too much fun.

. . .

Jellal could remember red.

Red like roses hanging down from lush, heavy vines. Red like the sunset over the ocean. Red like blood dripping down. Red like a strand of hair, flashing scarlet in the light.

Jellal could remember red.

He couldn't remember much else though. Everything was lost in a sea of blue, blue like Ethernano, blue like ice, blue like the Tesseract that his Master desired so much. So much blue, swirling around him, forcing its way down his throat, under his eyelids and into every corner of his mind, until he burned in the maelstrom that was his alone.

He loved his Master. He was devoted to his Lord. Not like that other one, the false one. The little black imp that he had been rescued from. What was his name again? Jellal didn't know anymore.

He would not fail his Master. He would take the fight to these primitives. He would show them the power of the Mad Titan. Death would rain down from the heavens, and all would succumb to the blue. It was inevitable; his master's will would be fulfilled. The blue commanded it.

Dimly, the part of Jellal that still retained the will to think heard the one called Barton ask him a question. The staff the Master gave him allowed him to spread his light to others. This archer knew the wonders of the blue as well.

"Sir, what's our next move?"

The answer appeared, floating out of the burning azure haze. So easy to just go with the flow. Jellal let the words form on his tongue.

"My lord gave very specific orders. We will take the fight to them on two fronts. Barton, Selvig, you will handle the portal. I will assist if you require it. Gajeel...I have a very important task for you. One that will ensure that Asgard does not interfere."

Gajeel bowed his head and Jellal felt a rictus grin form on his face. The blue made him happy. He needed nothing else.

So why did he remember red?

. . .

Landing on the deck of the SHIELD ship, Steve Rogers took his time examining his surroundings. For the first time in a week (or was it for the first time in seventy years?), he felt alive again. This was his element. Sure, the planes were different, and the ship was somewhat larger than most aircraft carriers had been during the War. But military life, it seemed, was very nearly the same as it had always been. It was comforting, in an odd way.

Another ship (a Quinjet, according to Agent Cross) landed nearby. A red haired woman with a gorgeous figure stepped out, clad in a leather jacket and sporting a pistol on her hip. A man followed behind her, owlishly blinking as he stepped into the sun. The man wore a frumpy suit coat and looked completely out of place on the carrier. It took a moment for Steve to place them, both faces having appeared in his debriefing packet. The woman was an elite SHIELD agent, Natasha Romanov, aka the Black Widow. A former Russian operative who'd joined SHIELD years ago. And the man was Bruce Banner, aka the Green Monster or the Hulk. A scientist who'd tried to duplicate Erskine's formula and had ended up failing catastrophically. Both were apparently part of this 'Avengers Initiative' that he had signed up for.

"Captain Rogers." spoke Romanov, stepping up beside him.

"Ma'am. And you must be Doctor Banner."

Banner blinked, eyes widening.

"Ah...you're Captain America. Hi."

Steve gave the doctor his best winning smile, trying to set the man at ease.

"Word is you can find the cube."

The other man's nose wrinkled up briefly, and he asked "Is that the only word on me?"

"It's the only word I care about." Steve finished, deliberately leaving out any mention of Banner's 'problem'. As long as the doctor had a handle on himself, Steve didn't feel the need to bring it up.

The man nodded, taking in the statement before gesturing with his hand "This must be strange to you...all of this."

Steve thought back to his earlier rumination and smiled.

"Actually, this is kind of familiar. I've been on my fair share of military ships in my time...it seems that not much has changed."

An alarm of some kind sounded, causing both men to look around (Steve calmly and Banner with very visible nervousness). Natasha's lip curled up and she said "Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's going get a little hard to breath."

The entire structure began to shake, sending Bruce stumbling. Rogers steadied him, his brow furrowed.

"Is this a submarine?"

Bruce laughed hollowly.

"Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

Both men looked over the edge, only to observe that the ship wasn't a submarine at all. Instead, enormous propellers were emerging from beneath the surface of the water, spinning faster and faster until they blurred together in a high speed whirl of propulsion.

Bruce chuckled with slightly more vigor as Steve just looked amazed. It was obvious now that the aircraft carrier was much more than it seemed.

"Oh no, this is much worse."

With a little nudging from Romanov, the two men made their way into the interior of the Helicarrier onto the bridge, where Fury stood at the helm. Dozens of technicians sat in the bridge, observing banks of monitors and calling out measurements and numbers.

Without saying a word, Steve handed Fury ten dollars in ones, causing Fury to raise an eyebrow.

"Really? That was all it took? You haven't even hit the weird shit yet."

Rogers shrugged sheepishly.

"Guess I'm not as well travelled as I thought I was."

Fury briefly looked disappointed before shrugging as well.

"Thanks for coming anyways. You as well, Doctor Banner."

Bruce nodded.

"Thank you for asking nicely. It helps when someone isn't trying to kill me. So...how long am I staying."

Fury gave the man a considering look and said "I believe our deal was you stick around until we find the cube. After that, you're free to go."

"And SHIELD will be off my back."

Fury frowned, somewhat displeased.

"As much as we can be. At the bare minimum, I'd at least like some way to get in contact if I need to."

Bruce frowned as well, saying "Well...we can work the particulars out later. How is the search for the cube going?"

Fury was about to speak when a technician shouted out.

"Sir, I've got two unidentified objects incoming."

Turning on a dime, Fury strode away from Banner towards the woman who spoke out.

"Speed?"

"Fast. At least Mach 3, I'm having a hard time tracking them."

Fury's eye narrowed.

"Stealth, or size?"

The technician pressed a few buttons before saying "Size. Both of them slightly larger than a human on radar."

"It might be Stark. See if you can open a line to them. Just in case, send out a general alert, but d not fire unless I say so."

Steve and Bruce exchanged a glance, both watching the screen, trying to figure out what was going on. For a few moments, everyone waited with baited breath before a different technician called out.

"Sir, the bogies have landed on the port side of the Helicarrier. I have a visual."

With a few taps, the technician brought up a camera feed onto his monitor. Onscreen, four people were seen walking along the top of the Helicarrier, seemingly uncaring of the winds that buffeted the airborne ship. One was a tall, blonde man, clad in silver armour and wearing a flowing red cape. The other three were women, two of them wearing armour and one clearly a SHIELD agent, if the eagle logo was anything to go on.

Bruce blinked, eyes widening.

"Thor? Erza?"

. . .

Erza looked around as their small group entered the belly of the great airship they had landed on. Agent Fleming hung on her shoulder, staggering drunkenly as she attempted to refrain from throwing up (Erza was grateful she hadn't during the flight). Nearby, Thor and Sif marched along looking no worse for wear, Thor in particular looking reinvigorated. Four other agents of SHIELD accompanied them, rifles at the ready as they escorted them to see the 'Director'. A few words from Fleming had calmed them down, which Erza was thankful for.

Erza admitted to herself that the airship they found themselves in was a very impressive construct. It was at least three times larger than any she'd ever seen before, and if Agent Fleming was to be believed, it hovered and flew without the aid of magic circles or lacrima. Erza was sure that many back in the guild would love to analyze how the ship functioned.

The thought of Fairy Tail sent a pang of longing through her heart, which she dutifully squashed down. She would see her family again, Mystogan had promised, she had nothing to worry about. She didn't have the luxury to worry like a housewife; she was a warrior, Erza told herself, and she would act like one.

The foursome entered into a large room where dozens of people were working, using what looked like Archive magic of some kind. Three people stood out, though. A dark skinned man in black leather, his one eye glared at them and his craggy face seemingly set into a permanent grimace. Beside him was another man, tall and fair skinned, with a physique to rival Gildarts'. And beside him was…

"Bruce?"

Erza and Thor looked at each other briefly before they both turned their attention to the unassuming man that they had spent a night with.

Bruce glanced around before stepping forwards haltingly, waving.

"Uh...hi. What are you two doing here?"

"What are we doing here? What are _you_ doing here? The last time we saw you was in Canada?"

Bruce reached up and rubbed the back of his head, wincing.

"I uh...did Fury call you here?"

"Who is this 'Fury' you speak of, Doctor Banner?" asked Thor.

The dark skinned man stepped forwards, arms crossed.

"That would be me. Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. And you two must be Erza and Thor."

The two in question nodded, Erza giving the man an appraising look.

"You are the man who heads up this agency? Then to your question, Doctor Banner, no. We came here on the advice of Agent Fleming. She told us that SHIELD knew the location of Gajeel."

Fury's grimace changed, a flash of what looked almost like guilt crossing his face. It was gone in a split second, but Erza caught it, her eyes narrowing.

"So...where is my guildmate?"

Fury stared at her for a second, frowning, before he sighed and gestured towards the back of the room where a table and chairs sat.

"I might as well catch everyone up to speed, we don't seem to be on the same page right now. Captain Rogers, Doctor Banner, Thor, Erza, and...who are you?"

Sif inclined her head slightly and said "I am Sif, shield maiden of Asgard and companion to Thor."

Fury shook his head but kept his mouth shut. The five of them sat around the table, looking up at him expectantly.

"SHIELD is the agency that protects the world from threats that others aren't equipped to deal with yet. Threats like aliens, interdimensional travellers, and so on." Fury gave Thor and Erza a significant look. "We come across some strange things, let me tell you, some of which are harmless, and some of which are far more dangerous." Fury turned his eye on Steve Rogers. "Seventy years ago, in the final days of World War II, Captain Rogers fought against an organization known as HYDRA. They were a dangerous group for many reasons, but the foremost reason was the artifact that they'd acquired from a chapel in Norway. An artifact of unimaginable power...a blue cube that was known as the Tesseract."  
Thor's eyes widened, and he shared a look with Sif. The jewel of Odin's Vault was here?

"Captain Rogers brought down a bomber that was set on obliterating the entire United States, and he crash landed in the Arctic. The Tesseract was recovered not long after, apparently having burned through the floor of the aircraft. We didn't find the ship itself until this year."

Fury looked down at the table and continued.

"SHIELD has had the Tesseract since then...or we did up until yesterday."

Thor asked sharply "Someone stole it?"

Fury nodded, a quick jerk of his head. He looked up and fixed Erza with a piercing look.

"His name was Jellal. And he seemed to know your guild mate."

Erza froze.

Jellal. Jellal was here after all. And he had stolen an artifact of tremendous power. Erza's heart clenched. Of course it had to be him; who else would it be? It was always going to be the man who haunted her nightmares.

Erza dimly heard Fury asking her another question, and with great effort, managed to drag herself out of her panicked memories.

"I'm sorry...what did you ask?"

"I asked you if you'd tell me what the hell we're dealing with." Fury said "You know him, don't deny it. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't restrain you right here and now."

Thor stood up abruptly, his chair hitting the floor.

"I would sooner rip this ship from the sky than let you lay a hand on her! The Lady Erza is innocent in this, Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD."

Thor's outburst had everyone on edge; out of the corner of her eye, Erza noticed several agents put hands on their weapons.

"Thor...enough." Erza waved her hand at her friend "As for you question...it's a long story. But to summarize...I was once friends with Jellal. We...we were slaves together at the Tower of Heaven."

Some of the tension bled out of the room, and Thor righted his chair to sit back down. Erza continued "He was...different back then. I looked up to him. He was always so strong. And then, one day, he was taken away by the guards after an escape attempt and when I saw him next...he wasn't the same." Erza shook her head, eyes distant.

"He claimed to have seen truth. That Zeref had shown him this truth...and that he would create a world of true freedom, by resurrecting the most powerful dark mage my world has ever known. We fought, and he effectively banished me from the island. I didn't see him again for eight years. When I finally did...he wanted to use me as the sacrifice to bring Zeref back. Too much happened during the Tower of Heaven assault to talk about, but in the end, he was consumed by Ethernano, and I thought that was the end."

Erza sighed and finished "Not even a month afterwards, Gajeel and I happened upon a massive chunk of Ethernano in a cave. Jellal was inside. I still don't know exactly what happened...but somehow, the three of us were dragged through to this dimension."

Fury leaned back, face neutral.

"So. What can we expect with this guy?"

Erza scowled at no one in particular, arms crossed.

"Jellal was one of the Ten Wizard Saints back in Fiore. They're the ten strongest mages on the continent. He is a master of Heavenly Body magic, can use Thought projections, and has proficiency in elemental magic and darkness magic. In a word, he's dangerous."

Fury released an explosive sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"Wonderful. We're dealing with a fucking Dark Wizard from another dimension."

With a cough, Steve Rogers drew attention to him and asked "Wait...you're saying that magic is real?"

Erza raised an arm, a shimmering form taking place in her hand as she summoned a double bladed axe out of thin air. Twirling it around, she slammed it into the tabletop, Steve eyes nearly popping out of his skull. Bruce actually stood up and moved closer, tapping the axe in several places just to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

"It's real...creating matter is scientifically impossible...some kind of pocket dimension, maybe?"

Erza smiled minutely and said "Precisely right. I store all of my weapons and armours with my Requip magic and can summon them remotely."

Bruce nodded, eyes examining every inch of the battleaxe.

Fury interrupted his examination, saying "Can we get back on track here? Frankly, I don't give a shit if you can use magic or not. All I want to know is if you're gonna help us against Jellal."

Erza looked at the Director and nodded.

"Jellal is...it is my duty to see that he is brought to justice, as it is partially my fault he is here. I will aid in your battle, Director Fury."

Without skipping a beat, Thor spoke up.

"I will stand by Lady Erza's side. I owe her a great debt."

Sif nodded as well, before she tilted her head.

"Forgive me...but I do not think you answered the original question."

Erza's gaze sharpened once more, and she said "Yes...that is true. Where is Gajeel?"

Fury paused before speaking, another flash of guilt crossing his face.

"We made contact with Gajeel not that long ago and brought him in. We asked him some questions, he asked us some, one of which was where you were. I asked him to accompany me to the JDEMF, the place where the Tesseract was being kept...he was there when Jellal came out of the portal."

Fury leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table.

"I don't know how he did it...but Jellal used his staff to control Gajeel's mind, along with two of our own. He's out of our hands."

* * *

 **Dun dun dun.**

 **I know I've screwed up the timeline. That has never been more obvious than it is here. Thus, several things are different. Steve Rogers has just gotten out of the ice, Phase Two is in a much earlier stage, Natasha Romanov didn't have time to infiltrate a Russian gang, etc. But realistically, Gajeel and Erza both want to get home, so waiting around for large chunks of time just wasn't going to work.**

 **Next chapter: The Avengers finish assembling, and the first really big throwdown of this fic.**


	11. Chapter 11: Avengers Assemble Part Two

**Z.R. Stein**

 **The Avengers from Earthland – A Fairy Tail/Avengers crossover AU fic.**

 **I do not own the characters to either series in any way.**

 **Happy belated Fourth of July! This got out a little bit later than I wanted, but at least this chapter is now concluded.**

 **I made some revisions to this chapter, mainly this starting scene between Thor and Erza. Keep in mind, Erza has no clue that Jellal was ever controlled by Ultear as she was transported before the timeskip ever happened.**

 **Just gonna warn you guys now, awesomeness lies ahead. I've been looking forwards to this chapter for awhile.**

* * *

Several hours later, Thor found Erza resolutely staring out of one of the windows on the Helicarrier bridge, clutching the guardrail with enough strength that Thor could make out handprints in the steel. He and Sif had been taken on a tour of the airborne fortress by Agent Coulson (Erza had declined), and he hadn't seen her since the meeting.

Resting his forearms on the metal bar in front of the glass, Thor joined Erza in her silent vigil, waiting for her to speak. He did not have to wait long.

"Thor?"

"Mmm?"

Erza didn't turn to look at him, but Thor could tell by the tightness of her jaw and the raw tone of her voice that she was experiencing extreme emotional turmoil.

"Tell me about Loki...what is he like, as a person."

Thor blinked, confused by the question and trying to think of how it related to whatever was twisting Erza up on the inside.

"...my brother and I do not have the...closest of relationships. He has ever been a scholar and trickster, walking among dusty bookshelves and staying to the shadows, while I am a warrior. And...well, Loki has never been open about his secrets. But...growing up together for a millenia...I can say I know more than most. He is...difficult to love sometimes, I admit. He sometimes would shut himself inside for days on end as he pursued one idea or another, neglecting all else for his latest project. He is biting and cruel, even to his friends and family, and his schemes are legendary on Asgard...but he's always had a soft spot for Mother. He took after Frigga greatly. And...when I look beyond his snark and sport, I see the little _sveinn_ that I used to swordfight with through the corridors of the palace. We would play together under the eaves of the alder trees and annoy the healers and Lady Eir whenever we were bored." Thor smiled softly at the memory "I still remember the time we stole ten batches of freshly baked barley rolls from the kitchens. Heh, half of the servants must have ended up chasing us that day! So...to answer your question, Loki is a man with many faults, but he has his own hidden virtues if you look hard enough. Why do you want to know?"

Erza didn't respond at first, her hands tightening even further around the abused guardrail. Thor sincerely hoped that it wouldn't snap under the strain.

"After everything that has happened with him...everything he's done to you and I and to your home...and...what about the future? At what point do you stop forgiving him? At what point do his sins become too heavy to overlook, too heavy to excuse even if you love—" Erza cut herself off, a glimmer of tears visible in her reflection, and Thor's eyes lit up with understanding and a hint of jealousy.

"You love him, didn't you? Jellal?"

Erza squeezed her eyes shut.

"I think I did, once upon a time. Perhaps I still do. When I was a prisoner at the Tower of Heaven...he was my rock. He gave me my name," Erza said as she ran a hand through her crimson locks "...and hope when I was in despair. I want to believe that it wasn't him, that something was controlling him, that he acted not out of malice but madness...but...now, with Gajeel, and everything else that's happened...the Iron Dragon Slayer was my responsibility, my guild mate. Master Makarov told me he was seeking redemption for his deeds and sent me along to prove his worth and now Gajeel is...and I'm…" Erza trailed off before shaking her head and asking "How can you stand to fight your brother, to look into his eyes and see that same smiling face you once knew staring back at you accusingly?"

Thor placed one of his hands on Erza's and gently pried it off of the bent piece of steel. Erza turned to meet his eyes, more vulnerable than he had ever seen her.

Thor took a breath, steadying himself, and said "Our battle did not last long, luckily. Perhaps if it had, I would have doubted myself as you are now. All I have to offer you is this: I love my brother, despite his actions. I will forever be his kin, Thor Odinson...but I am also Thor, prince of Asgard, and if my brother threatens my home then it is my sworn duty to protect it. I will protect my people, even if I must fight Loki. And I must hope that no matter what happens...no matter how dark his deeds become, I must hope that I can still save him. And I do...I know that the little boy I grew up with is still inside of him somewhere. I think...as long as you can see that in Jellal, that you should not give up on him."

Erza sniffed and wiped at her eyes, composing herself.

"Do you think I can? Save him, that is?"

Thor shrugged, suppressing another twinge of jealousy.

"I do not know. But," Thor said, a teasing smile making its way onto his face "I do know that if there is even the slightest chance, you will do it. You are far too stubborn to allow him to slip away that easily, Lady Erza."

The redhead snorted, cracking a small grin.

"You may be right."

A loud shout from one of the previously quiet Helicarrier technicians drew their attention.

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, crossmatch, seventy-nine percent. The hair colour is different, but the tattoo is still there and the facial structure is identical."

Fury, who had been directing from the helm and trying not to appear like he was eavesdropping on Thor and Erza's conversation, strode over to the technician and glared at the picture of Jellal that had sprung up on the monitor. Coulson appeared moments later and asked for a location.

"Geneva, Switzerland. One of the cameras at the CERN facilities picked him up."

"What the hell does he want with the Super Collider?"

The technician pressed a few keys, his eyes narrowed.

"He wasn't near the Collider. There's a Gala being held there tonight, he was spotted on the way there."

Fury cracked his jaw, thinking. There could be any number of reasons why Jellal would be at the Super Collider tonight, none of them good. He needed someone in Switzerland and he needed them there yesterday.

"Thor, Erza. How fast can you get to Geneva? It's a good four thousand kilometers from where we are now."

Thor glanced to Erza who said "I can make the flight in an hour if I Requip into my fastest armour. Thor?"

"I can do the same."

Fury nodded in satisfaction and said "Then you two will be the forwards assault team. I'll send Rogers and Sif after you in the Quinjet, they should be there twenty minutes after you two arrive. Here, take this headset, I'll give you your directions along the way."

The two nodded as well and turned to leave, quickly making their way out of the bridge. Before they stepped onto the flight deck to depart, Thor halted Erza and asked "Are you confident that you can face him?"

"As long as I have you by my side...yes, I believe so."

"That is good enough for me. Let us fly to battle, Lady Erza."

Thor smiled encouragingly and stepped outside, Erza following not far behind. The flight deck was lit by thousands of small running lights and was utterly devoid of any personnel.

" **Requip: Wind God Armour!** "

At Erza's shout, a yellow glow encompassed her form. When it disappeared, she was clad in a dark yellow robe that was lined with fur, a green sash securing it in place. A pair of ornamental wings poked out from on top of her head, and held an ornate broadsword in one hand.

"Another one of your armours?"

"I'll tell you about it later Odinson."

Thor laughed and began twirling Mjolnir.

"I should hope so. Are you confident you have enough Ethernano for this journey?"

"I should. The pill has worn off, but I have enough Ethernano to fly to this Geneva location."

"Then let us be off." With that, Thor released his hammer and went speeding off into the night, Erza not far behind.

. . .

The CERN Super Collider was one of the pinnacles of modern science. Along with the Arc Reactor and the International Space Station, it was a symbol of humanities prowess and ingenuity, a sign of their inventive spirit. Of course, Clint Barton didn't really care about that at the moment. He had orders that needed to be followed and equipment that needed to be stolen.

Selvig had come across the idea that, instead of building their portal from scratch, they could simply steal the necessary equipment from a location that already had it. Cannibalizing the Collider would be much easier than searching for 'enemies of SHIELD' and waiting for them to secure the necessary tools. It helped that iridium was one of the main components of the Collider; it could be repurposed to create the portal. Or it could be according to Selvig...science wasn't Clint's area.

The 'hired help' that Jellal had sent along with him were standing behind him, hoods up, covering their faces. After Clint disabled the security, the small group slipped into the building, killing anyone in sight. The area secured, they began the process of stripping down the enormous machine for everything on Selvig's list. Within an hour they would be gone, their stolen goods stuffed into the back of a rented semi truck.

. . .

Jellal looked out on the assembled people present in the converted ballroom. Vapid European officials danced with celebrities while scientists stood off to the side, discussing their latest work. How small all of them were. How insignificant.

Jellal found himself in agreement with the blue. These people...these ants did not deserve this moment, this...self celebration. Their attitude was laughable, their belief in science and progress contemptible. He would show them true power, and they would kneel before the power of Thanos like good little sheep.

" _Excuse me sir, might I offer you some hors d'oeuvres?_ "

Jellal turned his head to observe a middle aged Swiss waiter with a tray of caviar bites.

" _Ah, caviar. How barbaric. The unborn eggs of a fish carved from their mother's womb, served fresh._ "

The waiter frowned severely upon hearing his comment, eye twitching.

" _I assure you, our caviar is of the highest quality, and no fish suffered in its production. If you do not want it, sir, then I will depart._ "

Jellal shrugged and walked over to the waiter, eyeing the tray. His attention soon turned to the man holding it, and an unbalanced grin split his lips apart.

The waiter's body (or rather, half of it) crashed to the floor of the ballroom moments later. It seemed to be burning with some kind of black fire that danced and crackled in delight across the new corpse. The screams started almost immediately, people panicking as they fought to get away. Security guards snapped to action, searching for the source of the disturbing display.

They did not have to search long as Jellal leapt down and landed next to the body, his hair shimmering back to its natural colour. All of the guards in attendance aimed pistols at him and started shouting in French.

" _Get on the floor, now! Get on the floor!_ "

Jellal simply grinned, amused by their weapons.

" _Mmm...no, I don't think I will._ **Darkness Magic: Ghost Fireworks!** "

Dozens of wraithlike figures boiled out of the magic circle that manifested in Jellal's hand. They charged towards the guards, howling in fury; bullets hit them and drew blood, but they kept on coming, latching themselves onto the guards. Those who found themselves in the ghost's clutches immediately collapsed to the ground in pain.

"Suffer, mortals. Wallow in your despair as Death comes for you. That is your punishment for attempting to stop the disciple of Thanos."

With the guards taken care of, Jellal turned his attention to the screaming masses of people that were swarming out of the door. With a flick of his hand, Jellal created another magic circle.

" **Bind Snake**."

A veritable flood of black serpents wound their way out the magic circle this time, each shooting out towards a fleeing human. Every person struck by the bind snake had it wrap around their body, holding them in place until everyone was still. The sounds of panic gradually died down, being replaced by the silence of disbelief.

Jellal walked forwards, weaving his way through the crowd. Hundreds of horrified eyes tracked him as he went.

"Tonight...tonight you people gathered here to celebrate yourselves. Your accomplishments. You toasted your own minds, imagining that you had advanced yourselves out of the shadows and into a new age of enlightenment and freedom. I am here to tell you that that is a lie. Freedom is nothing more than a paltry tale parents tell to their children at night to shut them up, to assuage their fears. You are not free. You have never been free. You just haven't realized it yet."

Jellal continued until he had passed out of the building, strolling between the bound people as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"I am here tonight to reveal that truth to you. Kneel, or die."

The bind snakes retracted from every person, giving them freedom of movement once more, yet no one ran. This man, this strange, terrifying man had powers beyond what any of them could imagine. No doubt he could stop them if he wanted.

Slowly at first, but soon gaining speed, people began to kneel, some shaking in fear and some dull eyed from shock. Within thirty seconds, everyone who had been attempting to escape the gala was on the ground. Jellal's smile grew, the manic gleam in his eye strengthening.

"Wonderful. You understand now, don't you? This is right. This is your natural state. You were made to be ruled. You have always kneeled, and you always will."

As if in defiance of all of Jellal's words, an old man stood up several meters away. His face was craggy, lined with care and hardship.

"Not to men like you."

Jellal chuckled, a tiny ball of black shadows dancing around his fingertips.

"There are no men like me."

The old man shook his head in the negative, unfazed by the demonstration.

"There are always men like you."

Jellal's good cheer disappeared in an instant, and he levelled a hand at the man.

"Very well. If you will not kneel, you will die. **Altairis Minor.** "

The dark orb that had been circling came to a stop and grew in size until it was larger than a tennis ball. As the old man's eyes widened, it shot forwards, a swirl of wind forming around it.

The orb suddenly found its path blocked by a hammer, wielded by a tall warrior king with flowing blonde hair. The attack was almost casually deflected, shooting up into the night sky.

"This is not how a ruler should act. One of the first lessons my father ever taught me was that my duty was to the people. I do not feel like you have the people's best interests at heart."

Jellal scowled, icy blue eyes staring at the man who _dared_ to interrupt his Lord's mission.

"Thor Odinson, I presume."

"He's not alone either."

Jellal's eyes darted to the side, ready to snarl at this newest insect. His words died in his throat, and a surge of emotion broke its way through the blue haze that surrounded him.

Jellal could remember red. Red like roses hanging down from lush, heavy vines. Red like the sunset over the ocean. Red like blood dripping down.

Red like the corona of power that surrounded this woman in front of him, her beautiful scarlet hair trailing behind her. Who was this woman to create such emotion in him? Why did he feel like he knew her from somewhere?

The woman examined him, and Jellal carefully schooled his face. Had she caught his moment of weakness? He hoped not; he would allow himself no weakness. This woman must die for affecting him so, the blue commanded it. She was too dangerous to be left alive.

. . .

Erza saw Jellal tense, quickly swallowing the magical pill that she had just popped into her mouth. She had a feeling that she would need every last scrap of magic she could use for this fight.

When the blue haired man exploded into motion, Erza was ready, her Wind God Armour already switched out for her Black Wing Armour. She blocked Jellal's charge with two summoned axes, gritting her teeth as she struggled against her former friend.

"You're getting sloppy, Jellal. It's unlike you to just charge into battle like this."

The man growled and sent a blast of dark fire at her head. Erza backflipped out of the way to avoid being singed, and Jellal found himself on the receiving end of a thrown Mjolnir.

The crowd quickly resumed panicking and scattered as soon as the fighting started, everyone trying to escape from the developing brawl. Jellal picked himself up from the small crater his body had plowed into the ground and spat out a globule of blood.

"I'll enjoy killing you, Odinson. **Meteor**!"

Thor found himself blown thrown the wall of the CERN building as Jellal slammed into him, the two of them breaking through several meters of reinforced concrete before Thor slammed both of his fists down onto Jellal's neck. Both men rolled to a stop and quickly stood up. Jellal brought his hands together and fired off a series of bolts at Thor. The demigod lifted a broken section of wall to protect himself, the bolts pulverizing the concrete but leaving him unharmed. While Jellal was doing that, Thor held out a hand and called Mjolnir to him.

Before his trusty hammer could arrive, Erza did, flying through the hole that he and Jellal had created. She threw one of her axes towards Jellal, the Dark mage only barely managing to stop it before it cut his arm off. Erza brought her other axe down in an overhead chop, her weapon clanging as Jellal used her own thrown axe against her.

Erza dismissed the axe that Jellal was holding and began a complex dance of slashes and cuts. Jellal avoided most of them, dodging and weaving with assistance of Meteor, but Erza was persistent, and over a dozen small cuts appeared on the blue haired mage with seconds.

Scowling, Jellal sidestepped another attack and kneed Erza in the gut, disarming her at the same time. The red haired mage twisted in the air and shouted out " **Requip: Flame Empress Armour!** "

When Erza reappeared, she was clad in a red armour with orange accents. She twirled the sword in her hands and slashed down at Jellal, cutting a narrow trench into his exposed cheek. While Jellal was off balance, Erza charged up her sword and released a fireball point blank into Jellal's midsection which blew him through another wall and out of the building. Both Erza and Thor quickly followed after, Thor taking the lead as he tackled Jellal and began to place him in an Asgardian headlock.

The mage, rather than resisting, melted into the shadows and reappeared nearby, holding a hand to his bleeding cheek. He glared at Erza and Thor, unnaturally blue eyes narrowed in hate.

"You _worms_! I'm done holding back! **Altairis Major**!"

A swirling ball of shadows once again formed in Jellal's hand, thought this one rapidly grew in size until it was larger than Jellal's body. Erza froze momentarily, remembered back to when she had seen Simon killed by the exact same attack. When launched, it was almost unblockable, and one of the most deadly attacks in Jellal's repertoire.

Jellal cackled and held his hands up higher, the ball growing in size as little bits of rubble flew into it.

"Hahahaha! I'll destroy you, and when I'm through with you, I'll kill Odinson as well! Nothing can survive against my _erk—_ "

Jellal's monologue was cut short as Mjolnir smashed into his nose at full speed, the enchanted stellar metal easily breaking it. The Altairis sphere soon petered out, fading away until there was nothing left but a ball of compacted concrete.

Erza blinked in surprise and turned to Thor, who recalled his hammer to him.

"Do all people talk so much during fights where you are from, or is it just him?"

Erza shrugged, her attention on Jellal. That last blow had stunned him enough that he was simply laying on the ground groaning for the moment. He soon struggled up, hand holding his nose.

"You will pay for dis, Odidsod! Your suffering will be legedary!"

Erza and Thor glanced at each other for a second.

"You can have the honours."

"Thank you, Lady Erza."

A quick blow from Thor had the already unsteady mage unconscious and laid out on the ground. The Asgardian looked down at the man, grimacing as he flexed his arm.

"I will say this for him; he is quite the fighter. He could match any Asgardian I know."

Erza nodded in agreement, eyes fixed on Jellal's unmoving form.

"I saw it in his eyes when he first saw me...a flash of...something. Recognition, maybe. Which is odd...it's almost as if he doesn't remember me. And his eyes as well...they were never blue. Especially not a blue like that."

Thor frowned, thinking.

"Perhaps he is being controlled after all."

"By who though? Zeref shouldn't have any influence over him here."

"Someone had to give him that staff that allowed him to control Gajeel, correct? He did not obtain it in Earthland?"

Erza paused then said "I think so. Yes, that makes sense." Erza rubbed her eyes "Though this raises even more questions."

Whatever Thor was about to say was interrupted by the sound of something landing outside. Thor jerked his head, indicating for Erza to take point. The Quinjet wasn't slated to arrive for another few minutes, even at top speed, so whoever this was, they were likely on Jellal's side. In a blur of sudden motion, Erza charged out of the building and threw her spear at the red and gold armoured man who had landed on the rubble filled lawn of CERN.

The man (at least, that's what Erza thought it was) blasted away the spear with a beam from its palm and settled into a crouch.

"Stand down, baby cakes, I'm just here for Dumbledore."

Erza blinked, momentarily thrown by the man's strange turn of phrase.

"Who?"

"The blue haired magic guy. Jellal. Fury sent me. You know, Iron Man, Tony Stark? Former CEO of Stark Industries, any of this ring a bell?"

Erza's eyes narrowed.

"How do I know whose side you are on, Man of Iron? Fury never mentioned a Tony Stark. You could be working for Jellal, coming to save him after Thor and I beat him."

The armoured man turned his head, looking between the two warriors opposing him.

"Ok, A, Fury is a jackass and probably just didn't mention me out of spite, B, there's no way I'm working for that punk metal reject, and C, you two look like reserves for a Warcraft porno."

"A... _what_?" Erza screeched. How dare he!

The man seemed to take her question as a lack of knowledge, however, and continued on speaking.

"You know, getting down and dirty in costume? Little Elf girl having sex with a warrior of Lordaeron? You two really look the part. Specially you, Thunder thighs. There is no way in hell that armour is practical."

Erza's face lit up like a bonfire in anger and embarrassment.

"Are you insinuating that...you... _ **AGH**_!"

Erza quickly sprang forwards, stabbing her sword into the ground as she aimed a roundhouse kick at this contemptible man. With 'Tony Stark' reeling from her blow, Erza quickly Requipped into her Lightning Empress Armour.

"I'll show you _practical_ , Man of Iron!"

Erza spun the spear around her shoulder and shot out a series of lightning bolts, each impacting the man in the armoured suit. Inside the Iron Man armour, Tony Stark winced. Ok, maybe he could have held back a bit on the comments. But hey, he was Tony Stark! It was kinda his thing. And that armour looked like something a cosplayer would wear, not some kind of interdimensional warrior chick.

"Power at 200% capacity."

Huh. Guess it wasn't just for show. Tony charged up his chest repulsor and blasted Erza full force before being slammed over the head with something which hurt like hell.

"You will not lay a hand on the Lady Erza!"

Stark ducked out of the way of another hammer swing (good god, that thing must weigh a ton) and punched the blonde haired cosplayer in the jaw. An alert from JARVIS had him turning around to fire a missile at the woman, the explosion doing nothing against the weird blue Gundam armour that she was now sporting.

Grinning with battle lust, Tony activated the lasers inside his gauntlets and fired at the redhead, testing the strength of this new armour. To his surprise, it failed to penetrate an observable distance.

"What the hell is that stuff _made_ of, adamantium?"

Any further questions were halted as Tony was struck by yet another bolt of lightning, this time from the blonde guy.

"Power at 500% capacity, approaching critical meltdown."

Shit. He needed to vent some energy and fast.

"JARVIS, overclock my left hand repulsor as much as you can and give me a bead on Point Break!"

Erza watched as Thor was blown backwards by a concentrated blast from the Iron Man. With a snarl, Erza ran forwards, only to be halted by a rain of darts that emerged from the man's shoulders.

A quick armour change later and Erza was back in her Wind God Armour, creating a cocoon of protective wind that blew away all of the tiny projectiles. Whirling her arms around her, Erza funnelled the tiny storm into a tornado that blew Stark off of his feet, allowing Thor to recover from the onslaught against him. As the two men struggled to right themselves, Erza charged forwards and began wailing on the Iron Man with her fists, knuckles grazing off of the hard metal shell. His armour was tough, probably as tough as her adamantine armour, but that also made him slow. Wind God Armour was one of her fastest armours, enabling her to move far more quickly than the eye could normally see. Erza struck blows to his arms, head, chest, and legs before he blasted her away with one of the beams from his glowing chest.

Thor slammed into Stark immediately after and headbutted him, leaving a massive indent in the helmet of his armour. He picked the entire suit up and slammed it into the ground, cracking the pavement before bringing Mjolnir down. Before it could connect, though, Tony activated his thrusters and threw Thor off his feet, flying for a short distance before coming back down to punch him in the head. The blow narrowly missed and the two men backed away, fists raised.

Before another punch could be thrown, however, a shield spun through the air and bounced off of both of them before returning to the hand of a man clad in blue.

"That's enough!"

Thor resisted the urge to continue battle and remained at ready, his hammer by his side.

"Captain Rogers. This man insulted the Lady Erza and is not to be trusted!"

Rogers held up a hand to calm Thor and said "He's on our side. Fury sent him."

Tony turned to Thor and Erza, saying "Told you! Fury sent me to help with Dresden Files in there. Didn't even say thank you."

Erza growled, levelling a newly summoned axe at Tony.

"You are a vile man, and I will not have my honour besmirched by one such as you! Take back what you said about my armour and about…" Erza's face reddened "...those other things."

Tony coughed and rubbed the new dent in his helmet.

"Alright, alright, I give. Your armour's fine, you don't look like you're a porn star. There, is everyone happy?"

"Not at all, but it will do for now." Erza turned away and stalked away, Thor following closely behind as the two of them left to ensure Jellal was still where they had left him.

Steve Rogers turned a disapproving eye on the Iron Man.

"Mister Stark."

"Captain. So, you're working with the LARPers?"

"Thor and Erza are on the same team as we are. You should remember that, try not to antagonize them."

"You're no fun, Capsicle. Oh, hey, look. Who are you supposed to be, Xena Warrior Princess?"

As Tony began bothering Sif (whom he hadn't talked to much on the flight over) Steve felt a headache beginning to form. This was not what he had been expecting when Fury had come to him. Suddenly he was glad he hadn't made any more bets, because at this point, he knew the surprises were just beginning.

* * *

 **Man, fight scenes are awesome. And they're surprisingly hard to write, in order to not make them repetitive. Let me know what you think of it in a review.**

 **I'm in the market for a Beta for all three of my fics. I'm pretty good about mistakes most of the time, but sometimes a few slip through. Hit me up if you're interested.**

 **Next chapter: Gajeel's little mission, Jellal's interrogation, and Tony Stark pissing people off**


End file.
